Spend some time talking to NFL fans and you know they are passionate about their team. Frankly, too passionate at times. But the term “super fan” does not apply to just anyone.
Sure, some teams have devoted fans that have gone by a popular moniker for many years, including the 12th Man (Seahawks), Cheeseheads (Packers), the Dawg Pound (Browns), The Black Hole (Raiders) and of course Bills Mafia (Bills).
But a super fan is a different story, and we don’t mean Taylor Swift for the Kansas City Chiefs. She is insanely popular right now and apparently a Chiefs fan of Travis Kelce, but let’s see her earn her stripes and root for the Chiefs even after Kelce retires. Then we might start thinking of her as a Chiefs super fan.
But a real super fan becomes emblematic of their team, a permanent fixture at every home game and sometimes on the road as well for season after season.
There have been some notable super fans in the NFL throughout the decades as the popularity of the league soars, but as we prepare to place our NFL bets, we are counting down the top 5 emblematic super fans in NFL history below.
5 “License Plate Guy” Joe Ruback – New York Giants
You can call him License Plate Guy or LPG for short, but Joe Ruback (born 1969) has been a die-hard super fan of the Giants for decades now. He first wore a license plate to a game when he was 16 years old, and he attended all 283 games the Giants played at Giants Stadium from 1976-2009.
Since 2000, LPG has been to every Giants game, home and road, outside of the 2020 pandemic season. That is incredible consistency and he is easy to spot not only for his long, blond hair, but because he wears his proud collection of Giants-themed license plates to the games. His collection reportedly has over 100 different license plates in it.
LPG has been there through the many ups and downs of the Giants franchise. He has experienced 4 Super Bowl wins in the 1986, 1990, 2007 and 2011 seasons and he has been there through the roughest periods in the 1970s when he started and in the last decade since Super Bowl XLVI.
LPG has also done charitable work to raise awareness for breast cancer and a program to redistribute unused tickets for Giants fans to attend MetLife Stadium for home games. He has received contributions from active Giants players to his charitable work.
4 Syd Davy – Minnesota Vikings
Syd Davy is from Winnipeg in Canada, and he has been a super fan of the Minnesota Vikings going back to the 1960s when the legendary Bud Grant took over as head coach of the team.
The connection makes sense as Grant coached the Winnipeg Bombers in the CFL before having a Hall of Fame career as head coach of the Vikings. While Grant never won a Super Bowl, he did get the team to 4 of them in his career.
Davy, a locomotive engineer, was always there for the ride as it took him a solid 8 hours to travel down to Minnesota for the home games all those years. He got to experience everything from Fran Tarkenton’s scrambling to John Randle rushing the passer to Randy Moss burning defenses for touchdown bombs.
Davy’s appearance was hard to miss in the crowd. He always wore his Viking helmet, face paint, has many NFL and Vikings-themed tattoos and he started wearing a wresting-style championship belt with “vWo” (Vikings World Order) on it.
But being a Minnesota fan is tough and comes with a lot of heartbreak in the postseason. According to his social media, Davy has retired from his super fan duties and rarely makes the trip to games anymore.
But there will be a seat waiting for him in Valhalla as part of the lore of the Vikings.
3 “Whistle Monsta” Leroy Mitchell – New Orleans Saints
When the Saints are playing in New Orleans at the Superdome, you can expect a lot of crowd noise. Much of that noise is provided by super fan Leroy Mitchell, who is known as the Whistle Monsta. You likely have seen his famous outfit before at a Saints game.
Whistle Monsta doesn’t care about your tweets. He’s here to win the damn game. pic.twitter.com/Y6elfBeN8X
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) January 20, 2019
It is hard to miss the giant whistle painted gold on his head, and it is harder to not hear him whistle at an extremely loud pitch. Michell can reportedly get up to 120 decibels with his whistle sound, which he has been perfecting since he was a teenager.
He’s had a lot of practice at it as Mitchell has been attending games as the Whistle Monsta since 1996. He got to experience the team’s first-ever playoff win in the 2000 season, and of course, he enjoyed the 2009 Super Bowl season when the Saints started 13-0, claimed the No. 1 seed and beat the Vikings in a classic NFC Championship Game before winning their only Super Bowl.
He has also done a commercial with former quarterback Drew Brees, he attended the 2014 NFL draft, and he filmed a commercial for Rihanna’s Super Bowl performance in 2023.
2 “Fireman Ed” Edwin M. Anzalone – New York Jets
Being a super fan of the New York Jets is no easy task. Outside of that magical season in 1968, the team has never been back to the Super Bowl, and you see what happens when expectations are high like they were to start 2023. Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles after 4 snaps and poof, another season crumbled into dust.
But Ed Anzalone, better known as Fireman Ed, has been a super fan for decades. The New York City firefighter did not personally create the crowd chant he is known for, but he has been leading it since 1986. You can visualize him doing it perfectly if you’ve watched any Jets games in the past.
J-E-T-S, Jets! Jets! Jets!
Known so well for the chant, Fireman Ed was included in a Pro Football Hall of Fame exhibit in 1999.
“The Jets chant actually started in Shea Stadium” ~ Fireman Ed #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/e2yNa5lt6Y
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) May 19, 2023
But the reason we can’t give Fireman Ed the No. 1 spot for super fans is that he quit on the team at one of its lowest points. During the Thanksgiving game in 2012 against the Patriots, the Jets were embarrassed as Mark Sanchez gave up a touchdown on the infamous “Butt Fumble” play.
So disgusted with the performance and treatment from the crowd, Fireman Ed left the game at halftime and deleted his Twitter account. He retired his character on the spot before resurfacing in 2015.
But the Jets have still not been back to the playoffs since the 2010 season and Fireman Ed has not been able to lead a chant in a home playoff game since the 2002 season. We’ll see if the opportunity ever comes up for him again.
1 “Barrel Man” Tim McKernan – Denver Broncos
Tim McKernan, better known as Barrel Man, was the No. 1 super fan of the Denver Broncos for many decades. He rose to fame by attending every home game in Denver wearing just an orange barrel to cover his torso, a cowboy hat and boots. It was quite easy for him to stand out in that outfit.
If you are familiar with Denver, then you know the weather can get extreme, so he toughed it out through a variety of conditions for 30 years as the Broncos had one of the best home-field advantages at Mile High.
Between 1977 and 2007, super-fan Tim “The Barrel Man” McKernan attended every single Broncos home game. pic.twitter.com/qtSEa9xV0v
— FB_Helmet_Guy (@FB_Helmet_Guy) October 18, 2022
McKernan attended his first Denver game in 1967, and he only ended up missing 4 of them during his lifetime. But it was not until a decade later that he first wore the barrel, which can be seen as a nod to rodeo clown shows. It was orange because at the time the “Orange Crush” defense was very popular for the team, who rode that defense to the Super Bowl in the 1977 season. Orange Crush was also a popular brand of soda.
But wearing the barrel was actually the result of a $10 bet where McKernan bet his brother he would get on TV if he wore it to the game. Needless to say, he won the bet.
There is a Visa Hall of Fans for super fans that are honored at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and McKernan has been inducted into that for his Denver fandom. He retired his barrel outfit at the end of the 2007 season partly due to health reasons, and he sadly passed away at 69 years old in 2009.
Barrel Man honored in fan section of Hall of Fame #Denver7 #Broncos pic.twitter.com/8rDWry2MSJ
— Troy Renck (@TroyRenck) August 7, 2021
But the legacy of the Barrel Man in Denver will always live on as an ultimate example of an NFL super fan to the end.
