My next guest is a man who has been a life long CU Buffs fan, dedicated fan. He was a ticket holder season ticket holder from nineteen seventy seven to two thousand and four.
Now Riley Rhodes needs a little bit more help.
So he is in a long term care facility and he has just been granted a Wish of a lifetime. Now we interview Jerry Bloom Jeremy Bloom here fairly recently about Wish of a Lifetime. What is now a charitable affiliate of AARP. What they do is grant life changing wishes to older adults and they want to inspire people to redefine aging in America. Riley joins us now to talk about his big adventure coming up very soon at CU.
Riley, It's great to see you.
That's great to see you too, Mandy.
So tell me a little bit about how you became a CU Buffs fan.
What happened there?
Well, I just uh uh through junior high school and high school and just follow them all they could.
You know, they're game on TV and their bowl games and all that. So I was just I was a lifetime fan of them.
So when you found out that coach Prime was coming to see you because they had some rough years there, Rightley, I don't need to tell you they had some rough years. When you found out coach Prime was coming to say, what did you think?
I was so excited.
I just started watching the videos of him on there from the very beginning I hired. He was actually so him riding his bike around the Champions Center there.
So, yeah, now you're going to get to You're going to get to meet him as part of this adventure, are you not?
I would hope so, I think.
So what are you most looking forward to as a as a season ticket holder? You've probably seen a lot of football games, but now you're gonna get it kind of.
An inside view.
You're supposed to meet some players and a coach the day before and then get to go to the game. Have you ever had the opportunity to go behind the scenes before?
Not really, No, I've been kind of there at the game ballstander when they marching band march through to see them, you know, but they have be going to meet the band on Friday afternoon, so I'll give you that. When they march down Pearl Street.
Are you going to get to march down with him?
Well? More or less. I think you know you carry the big drum band marching band, so I like that.
What did you play in marching band?
Well, I played the French arm But in the marching band I played the altonium is like a small baritone?
What wait a minute, what is that again?
What is that?
A small baritone? Of what?
Altonia is a smaller size baritone?
I don't know what a baritone is, Riley. I'm not a musical person, and I certainly can't play an instrument. So you've lost me at that. Is it a saxophone or is it its own instrument?
What is it?
There's a brass in inst event, you know?
All right?
So Riley, what are you looking forward to the most out of this adventure?
Well, just the whole experience really, you know, I just meet the team everything, watch them play in person now, so yeah, that'd be really exciting.
I'd like to ask Tammy a question because she is one of the administrators at the senior living facility where you are.
She's the one that nominated you.
Tammy, what made Riley stand out that he would nominate him for the Wish of a Lifetime with AARP.
Well, I've been here at Lubland Village for about two and a half years, and over that time, I just got to know Riley and we kind of each mutually figured out that we had a big heart for the CU Buffaloes and football in general. So it kind of started off with, you know, Riley would kind of come to my office and shared news articles about CU Buffs
and also other football teams. And then, you know, especially during football season, you know, then usually every Monday we had to catch up on the game and all the great stuff that happened. And it became even more so when Dion Sanders came to coach the Buffs. And so, you know, over this course of time, I've just gotten to know Riley better and I kind of discovered a
few things. You know, that he was almost a thirty year season ticket holder for the Buffs, that it had been twenty years since he's been able to be at a football game and person at Folsom Field, and so I just kind of thought, you know, boy, would I be able to love to figure out a way to
get him to go to a game. And it was right about that same time that I found out about Wish of a Lifetime and so I thought, you know what, maybe I'm going to submit Riley for a wish, And so I did that over the summer and we found out I think it was in August, Hey, Riley, that his wish was being granted. So so yeah, so it's been pretty exciting since then, and I'm so excited for Riley for the experience that he's.
Going to have.
Well, Riley, I'm excited for you too. I'm going to let you get rested up. You got your buffs Jersey. Are you ready to get your buff skier on to go to the game.
Yeah.
I bet they're going to give you some new gear to wear as well too. Riley and Tammy, thank you so much for making time for us today. I love Wish of a Lifetime and I really am happy to bring some more awareness of what that actually he does. Because Tammy, what a great thing for you to be able to give Riley a great wish and he's going to have the opportunity to go watch his beloved Buffs play and meet some players because of Wish of a Lifetime.
If you have an older person in your life that has a wish to be granted, I would urge you to look up wish of a lifetime and nominate them as well. Riley, thank you so much for your time today. Yeah, thank you, bus go Bobs, Thanks Riley and Dammy.
Appreciate you guys making time for us today. All right, that is just a sweet story