NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell surprised Kansas City Chiefs fan Edward Lee Hubbard, a prisoner of war in Vietnam when the Chiefs won in 1970, with a pair of tickets to the Super Bowl.
Fort Walton Beach’s Edward Lee Hubbard was in a POW camp in Vietnam in 1970, the last year his hometown Kansas City Chiefs played in the Super Bowl, and received two tickets to this Sunday’s game directly from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. https://t.co/1BFWp4k4EP
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“It is such an honor to meet you,” Goodell told Hubbard in a surprise teleconference. “We are all inspired by your story and your service and sacrifice, so we wanted to make sure you didn’t miss the Chiefs in another Super Bowl.” (RELATED: Greater Love Hath No Men: 2 Brothers United By God And Vietnam)
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Hubbard, who now lives in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., originally hailed from Shawnee, Kan., and was a lifelong Chiefs fan. His stay at the “Hanoi Hilton” not only prevented him from watching his beloved team play in the 1970 Super Bowl, but left him unaware of the game’s outcome for three years.
“I was residing in a 12-square foot cell with Charlie Plumb that day. We didn’t even know they’d won until three years later,” Hubbard explained. Plumb, a Navy pilot who was captured after his plane was shot down, shared more than just a cell with Hubbard — he also came from Shawnee and was a die-hard Chiefs fan as well.
“We give Super Bowl tickets to fans, particularly in the military, who have done extraordinary things,” Goodell added. “So when we heard you had to wait three years to find out [the Chiefs] were in the game, much less that they won it, we wanted you to be there.”
Hubbard’s first reaction was to bring his wife to the game, but she wasn’t a fan. “My wife’s from Ireland and definitely not a football fan. I wanted to take her, but she said it would be a wasted ticket,” he said, and opted to take a friend instead.