Another Super Bowl Connection

I am not a football fan, although I do enjoy the game atmosphere. Craig played football and was All-State for Indiana his senior year, recruited by Notre Dame (but chose to attend Purdue where he was too small for the team), and was recently named to his school's commemorative 100-year team when they selected the best players of the past 100 years and put together a sort of dream team.

Craig's football genes won out over my horsey ones when it came to our kids; all six are huge football fans, while only one is a horsey girl like her mama.

I have tried to learn the game, and even chose two teams to follow: The Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos. (My choices made my family smile and say, "Oh, Mom!")

Sarah and her family live in the Denver area and avidly follow the Broncos (and the Packers and the Seahawks and...) They took me to the stadium once for an August scrimmage, so I actually have seen the team live and in person.

My classroom colors are orange and blue, too, but actually that is because my college degrees are both from the University of Illinois, a Big Ten team. (If there's anything I will root for avidly myself, it's Illinois basketball! )

But I have another connection to the Denver Broncos - one of  those "who'd have thought" ones.

Denver's mascot horse, Thunder, is ridden by a woman I went to junior high and high school with, Anne Judge-Wegner.

Anne trains Thunder (not the horse's real name) and is a judge and horse trainer, living in Bennett, Colorado.

She is a year younger than me, but we were in choir, band, and drama club together. I remember her as a very nice gal, one who was quiet and even a bit shy.

I actually remember very little of her horsey side. I think that is because, even as a teenager, she was riding in big Arabian breed shows while I was on a backyard Appaloosa mare participating in local fun shows. She and I were both in 4-H together,  though, attending Horse and Pony Club meetings and showing at the local 4-H fair and show every summer.

Our paths haven't crossed since high school, although her family is still here in West Lafayette and her father recently published a book titled The Bronco Girl. 

The book is available on Amazon, but I haven't read it. Anne came back and did some local book signings with her dad when it first came out. I thought about going to one and saying "hello," but had a conflict and could not make it.

I usually don't watch much of the Super Bowl (aside from the Clydesdale commercials...) but I am rooting for Denver in this Sunday's Super Bowl. I am also hoping to catch a glimpse of Anne and Thunder racing across the football field, and hopefully in the winner's celebration.