Winning the lottery typically means receiving a load of cash.
For a few Snohomish County residents, winning the lottery this week meant they had to fork over $1,240.
But they’re feeling like a million bucks. Dan Bates / The Herald
That’s because their $1,240 was the face-value price on a pair of tickets to see the Seattle Seahawks make their first Super Bowl appearance, playing the Pittsburgh Steelers on Feb. 5 at Ford Field in Detroit.
Seahawks season ticket holders such as Dave and B.J. Hoogerwerf had to wait until Tuesday to hear if they were among the lucky ones whose names had been drawn. And lucky they were.
“I thought we had a pretty good chance, since we’re 30-year season ticket holders and we have four (season) tickets,” said Dave Hoogerwerf of Snohomish.
“But there were 30-year ticket holders who didn’t get them. I don’t know what the odds were.”
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Each participating team receives 17.5 percent of the Super Bowl tickets from the National Football League, and the Seahawks made three-fourths of their seats available for season ticket holders – an estimated 8,500 tickets. There were 44,000 season ticket holders this season.
The drawing also was weighted in favor of longtime fans, giving them an extra entry for every year in which they had purchased season tickets.
That didn’t give much of a chance to fans such as Rachel Pigott, a 26-year-old Arlington native who bought season tickets this year after a three-year hiatus.
“I didn’t really think there was much hope that I would win, but you never know, so I crossed my fingers,” said Pigott, who didn’t enjoy the luck of the draw.
But Orlo and Jari Williams, a father-son duo who bought season tickets in the Seahawks’ inaugural season and every year since then had the odds and good fortune on their side.
Orlo was 44 and Jari was 18 when they started cheering their new home team in 1976.
“It was pretty incredible just going to a football game at that time,” said Jari Williams, who played varsity football at Everett High School. “I remember watching the Super Bowl on TV all the time and thinking everybody else was so much better than us.
“But now, being able to go to the big game – geez, you know, it’s been 30 years.”
Today, the 74-year-old and 47-year-old Everett residents are packing their bags for Detroit.
“My son and I are really looking forward to it,” Orlo Williams said. “We’ll have a blast down there.”
They don’t have much idea of what to expect. They’re still reeling from what was already the biggest game in Seahawks history just a few days ago.
“My voice is still gone from Sunday,” Jari Williams said, looking forward to the once-in-a-lifetime experience ahead of him. “It’s never like the first time. Even if we go back next year, it won’t be anywhere near the enthusiasm that we’ve galvanized this time.”
Snohomish residents Dave and B.J. Hoogerwerf were thankful for their good instincts, and their karma paid off this week.
“To be honest with you, we’ve had season tickets from the beginning, but some time in the last four or five years we started thinking, ‘Do we really want to keep these tickets?’” Dave Hoogerwerf admitted. “But you wouldn’t want to get rid of your tickets and all of a sudden, bang, they’re there.
“With (Seahawks head coach) Mike Holmgren around, you figured something was going to have to happen.”
The Hoogerwerfs know the presence of the famed “12th Man” is going to be a little smaller on the national stage 2,300 miles away, and B.J.’s heart went out to longtime fans who didn’t catch a break.
“We will be there for them in mind and spirit and voice,” she said. “We will be yelling as much for them as for ourselves.”
The Hoogerwerfs’ first order of business will be to find friendly fans and join forces.
“We can make up the difference,” B.J. Hoogerwerf said. “You bet, we can continue the enthusiasm, and we’ll make our portion of that stadium rock.
“I sound like I’m a 5-year-old kid going to Disneyland, and I guess that’s how I feel.”
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