GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – Bleeding green and gold is par for the course here in Northeast Wisconsin, but on Thursday afternoon one cheesehead stood above all the rest.
The Packers announced their latest inductee into the Green Bay Packers Fan Hall of Fame. There were 10 finalists.
This year’s Fan Hall of Fame inductee was Patrick Suplicki from Stevens Point. He told Local 5 News that becoming a Packers fan was a birthright in his family.
“In our family, you were always a Packers fan from birth, you were nothing else,” Patrick said.
He said he became a Packers fan at age three and has bled green and gold ever since. He’s been going to games at Lambeau Field since 1972 and said that watching Reggie White and Bart Starr play were among his favorite Packers memories.
Bay Area boys hockey upsets NDA to advance to sectionals
His dad Elgie was the one who got him hooked on the Packers and taught him the importance of being loyal to your team. Patrick began renovating his basement at his home to turn it into a Packers man cave. He stopped the project in 2003 when his father passed away, but eventually picked the project up and completed it to honor his father.
Patrick’s basement has become the place for his friends and family to gather for Packers games. He said he prides himself on nurturing the next generation of Packers fans and including his two daughters.
“It was kind of a rule to be a Packer fan in the house,” his daughter Patrice said. “I don’t think we could have entertained any other team even if we wanted to.”
Patrick is also a cancer survivor and says that being able to look forward to Packers games help him win that battle.
“I think he thought that would be the biggest thing he did in life,” Patrice told Local 5 News. “But now I think this is the biggest thing to be immortalized in the Packers Fan Hall Of Fame.”
Patrice nominated him for the Packers Fan Hall of Fame. She was able to contact Packers legendary wide receiver Antonio Freeman who recorded a video breaking the news that Patrick was a finalist. He learned the news on Christmas Eve.
Patrice said it was emotional seeing her father get inducted into the Fan Hall of Fame on Thursday afternoon. She said that her dad has always been there for all the big moments in her life, so she was so happy to return the favor and be here on her dad’s big day.
14 high schoolers gather for Encore Singers Revue in Appleton through Center Stage program
“Watching him up there, giving his speech being honored for the amazing man and Packers fan he is,” she told Local 5 News. “It was the biggest honor I could have as his daughter and the rest of his family (feels that way too).”
Patrick reflected on the influence his father had on him over the years to get him to the point where he could become a member of the Packers Fan Hall of Fame.
“It means a lot to me, I wish the one main family member was here but unfortunately we lost him in 2003 (his dad),” Patrick said. “My dad I think he would have been awed by this, kicking up his heels because he was the ultimate fan. I’d like to think he’d be really proud of us.”
As part of getting inducted into the team’s Fan Hall of Fame, he also got four club tickets to a Packers home game this upcoming season, pregame sideline passes, a custom Packers jersey, and a gift card to the Packers pro shop.
Patrick is the 28th member of the Packers Fan Hall of Fame.
