JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas --
Stephanie Crites and Marsha Nelson are ready for some football.
The Air Force Club members recently won the Air Force Services Activity’s “Football Frenzy” grand prize -- two tickets with airfare and accommodations to attend Super Bowl LI on Feb. 5 in Houston. The game will pit the New England Patriots against the Atlanta Falcons.
During the NFL season, Air Force Clubs hosted viewing parties for Airmen and their families once a week on Sunday, Monday or Thursday. Club members had opportunities to participate in game day events and obtained a weekly password to gain access to the online entry form. Members entered to win prizes such as NFL regular-season tickets, $100 e-gift cards toward NFL gear and a chance to go to Super Bowl LI.
The winners were drawn randomly.
Crites entered the contest every week during the NFL season. Her husband is Staff Sgt. Richard Crites, a senior munitions inspector with the 52nd Maintenance Squadron at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany.
“I have to give credit to my wife for Football Frenzy,” said Crites, who has been an Air Force Club member for most of his career. “Stephanie and I have been best friends since first grade, and she promised to get me to a Super Bowl someday. We just never imagined it would be like this!”
The Crites are die-hard Washington Redskins fans. Although Washington missed the NFL playoffs this season, they are excited to see any other team win, with one exception: Washington’s archrival, the Dallas Cowboys.
Nelson, a budget and accounting technician with the 20th Comptroller Squadron at Shaw AFB, South Carolina, said she and her husband Roger, a resource advisor with the 20th Civil Engineer Squadron at Shaw, will be going to the Super Bowl.
Nelson said she was praying the Patriots would make it to Super Bowl LI. Her prayers were answered as the Patriots beat the Pittsburgh Steelers to clinch the Super Bowl berth.
Now, she’s praying for a Patriots win.
“It would cap off an awesome once-in-a-lifetime dream come true,” said Nelson, who along with her husband has been an Air Force Club member since 1994. “We never thought we’d win, and going on our own was out of the question because it’s so expensive.”
USAA paid for the tickets, accommodations and domestic airfare, while AFSVA paid for the international airfare.
“Our biggest challenge was making sure our three kids are taken care of, but we have some super awesome friends who are going to take care of them while we’re away,” Crites said.
“Now we just have to worry about jet lag,” he joked.