For Carolina Panthers diehards on the Grand Strand, Super Bowl trip ‘a dream’

The joke went something like this: No one in Section 526, Bank of America Stadium’s nosebleed seats, would win the Super Bowl lottery.

Kathy Devine and her brother, Nick Pappas, laughed off the idea after watching their beloved Carolina Panthers pound the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC championship. Even when they returned to the Grand Strand the following Monday, they thought winning any tickets would be impossible.

“We’re the poor folks,” said Devine, who lives in Cherry Grove. “We’re not going to get a ticket.”

But when Pappas left for his house in Surfside Beach and Devine began thumbing through her mail, she noticed a letter sitting on the table.

“I thought, ‘Well, it’s just promotional, something inconsequential,’ ” she said. “I opened that envelope and the first thing I saw was in blue — ‘winner’ — and my heart dropped. And I thought, ‘Oh, my God.’ So I read the whole letter, and, my husband can tell you, I literally started screaming, ‘Oh my God!’ ‘Oh my God!’ and I’m shaking like this, running through the house. … He said, ‘What the hell is wrong?’ And I said, ‘I got tickets to the Super Bowl!’ ”

Yes, when the Panthers face the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50 on Sunday, Devine and Pappas expect to be watching from Section 404, Row 27, seats 3 and 4, in Santa Clara, California.

“It’s a dream,” she said.

The Carolina faithful across the Grand Strand are eager to watch their team on football’s grandest stage Sunday. Some will see the game on television. Others will venture into sports bars or host parties. But a select few will witness the spectacle in person.

Along with Devine and Pappas, Bruce Turman Jr. is in that group.

Searching for diehards

Turman bought his Super Bowl ticket from another PSL lottery winner in Mt. Pleasant.

For the longtime fan, watching his favorite childhood team play in the championship game is just one of the major milestones he’ll celebrate this year. He’s getting married in the fall.

“It’s going to be a cool year for me,” he said.

The 25-year-old began rooting for the Panthers as a boy. Growing up in northern Virginia, many of his friends favored Washington, but he opted for the new team, which played its inaugural season in 1995.

“Ever since then,” he said, “it’s been a love affair.”

His loyalty didn’t waver when he moved to Horry County in the sixth grade. Later, in a communications class at Coastal Carolina University, he sat one seat over from Josh Norman, who is now the Panthers’ star cornerback.

“That was probably one of the most exciting draft picks in Panther history just personally because I knew the guy,” he said.

Turman owns a dozen jerseys bearing the names of Panthers past and present, including Sam Mills, Jon Beason, Steve Smith and, of course, Cam Newton.

He lives in the Conway area and installs home theater systems for Best Buy’s Geek Squad. Throughout the Panthers’ remarkable run this season, he said he’s met many transplants from other parts of the country who have embraced the team.

Finding dedicated Carolina fans in Myrtle Beach can be tough, he said, because so many new residents remain loyal to their hometown franchises.

“I’d like to see more Panther fans,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong. But at the same time, you want the real ones.”

Some of the area’s most passionate fans are members of Carolina Panthers Fans in Myrtle Beach, a Facebook group created to help form a full chapter of Roaring Riot, a Panthers fan organization.

The Facebook group has just over 100 members. One of them, 30-year-old Seth Greeson of Conway, said many folks have jumped on the Panthers bandwagon this season.

Since he moved here from North Carolina 12 years ago, the rock drummer said he’s met more New England, Pittsburgh and even Cleveland fans than Panthers fans.

And while he appreciates any support, he’d like to see more diehards.

His living room is a shrine to the Panthers, featuring posters, blankets, pictures and even commemorative Pepsi bottles.

Although he won’t be able to make the trip to California, he’s hosting a party for his friends. He knows the game’s significance to those who pulled for the team at 15-1 and at 1-15.

“I don’t know if I can put it into words,” he said. “I’ve heard from everybody that I’ll probably be the one running down the road in my underwear screaming if we win.”

Super Bowl bound

During football season at Devine’s home, the game day decorations are specific. The light blue house with white trim has banners draped over each side of the porch. One says, “You’re in Carolina Panthers Country” and the other bears the team’s logo. There’s a Panthers throw over the left front window, another one over the right window, and a black and blue blanket covering a bench.

When the team scores a touchdown, her 75-year-old husband, Ben, runs into the yard sounding the family bullhorn.

The games in Charlotte are another story. When she’s sitting in Bank of America Stadium, Kathy Devine sports her Panthers headband, scarf, sunglasses, shirt, three bracelets, at least two rings and special flats with the Carolina logo.

Despite her current superfan status, Kathy Devine had no interest in football until she met her husband. The two have been together since 1971.

“It was either learn to love football or have Sundays by myself,” she said. “I’ve adjusted well.”

The Devines were living just outside Charlotte in the town of Fort Mill when the Panthers played their first season. For years, she had rooted for Washington, but with the rise of Carolina she knew her allegiance would change.

“For us, it was a hard transition,” she said. “The first game that we went to that we had at home with the Panthers and the Redskins, it was just constant yelling because we were pulling for both teams. Over the years, it became easier and easier to let them go and just [say] Panthers all the way.”

They cheered for the team through every quarterback: from Kerry Collins to good Jake Delhomme to bad Jake Delhomme to the Jimmy Clausen experiment to Newton.

Even during the dreadful 1-15 season of 2001, Kathy Devine still came to the games, though she did cover her head in a paper bag for one of them.

“I’m a fan win or lose,” she said.

The Devines purchased a personal seat license (PSL) when the Panthers became Charlotte’s hometown team. The license allows fans to buy season tickets and, in this case, it put the Devines into a drawing for the Super Bowl tickets.

There are around 62,000 Carolina PSL owners and the Panthers were allotted fewer than 10,000 tickets, including those for the family and friends of players and coaches.

But unbeknownst to the Devines, the formula for this year’s drawing favored longtime ticket holders, meaning they had a greater chance of being selected than newer PSL purchasers.

After the drawing, Ben Devine wanted to sell the tickets, which cost $900 apiece. His wife wasn’t having it. Not even when she was offered $6,000 for them before she picked them up or when another PSL holder at the purchasing line sold his for $7,000.

“I’ll be 67 in April,” she said. “I’m never going to get this chance again. I mean, this is once in a lifetime. This is like winning the Powerball to me.”

Ben Devine was more comfortable watching the game at home with their black lab, Stony, so his wife opted to take her brother to the Super Bowl.

For Pappas, a 64-year-old who beat colon cancer and is now battling leukemia, the game is an escape.

“I’m on my second cancer,” he said. “This is a Make-A-Wish without having Make-A-Wish.”

When the siblings discuss football, they talk about how the Panthers’ magical season has intertwined with their personal stories.

Growing up in Charlotte, their family survived on welfare. Kathy Devine left home at 16 and Pappas spent years traveling the country for work.

Both are retired now and when Pappas moved to Cherry Grove three years ago they had a chance to reconnect.

This year, they’ve been to three games together. They’ve not only enjoyed the team’s success, but the way the Panthers have won.

There’s Newton dancing after touchdowns and handing footballs to children. Or linebackers Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis celebrating a big stop.

“I don’t think I have ever seen football [look like] so much fun,” Kathy Devine said. “And being in the stadium with it and watching Cam and Luke and all of them just going with it, you can feel the fun in the air.”

“You don’t even see it on the college level,” Pappas added.

Come Sunday, they hope their joyful squad can pull off one more victory. And like the team on the field, the siblings have a sense of humor, too. Sure, they joked about their seats. But they also know how they got to the Super Bowl.

They’ve made a special sign to take with them to California.

“Representing Section 526 [of[ Bank of America Stadium,” it reads. “Keep pounding.”

This story was originally published February 6, 2016 at 4:37 PM with the headline "For Carolina Panthers diehards on the Grand Strand, Super Bowl trip ‘a dream’."