Post by TheShadow on Dec 22, 2008 18:25:55 GMT -5
www.fontanaheraldnews.com/
Miller interim principal is one of them
By JERRY SOIFER
Terry Abernathy has built a bond with the Oakland Raiders that is as strong as the steel that used to be made in his hometown of Fontana.
He has been a season ticket holder for 25 years, when they were in Los Angeles and when they returned to Oakland. His zeal for the NFL's Silver and Black has endured despite the rising costs of traveling north to the Bay Area for the games and the team's losing record over the last five seasons. He has attended two of the team's five Super Bowl appearances.
Abernathy, 41, is the interim principal at Fontana A.B. Miller High School. He will be the principal at Tokay Elementary School in Fontana in January.
He and his wife, Lisa, have been married for nine years. They have three children, Nicholas, 8, Isabella, 6, and Alexis Raida, 4. Alexis' middle name is based on his favorite team.
Last Sunday, he flew north with his buddy, Mark McLaughlin, the principal of Alder Middle School in Fontana, to watch the Raiders lose to the New England Patriots. They sat in Abernathy's club level seats, which afforded them shelter from the rain that pelted the players and fans for the entire game. They flew out of Ontario International Airport.
Before the game, they went to the Hilton Hotel in Oakland, where Abernathy met the Raiders' Hall of Fame linebacker Ted Hendricks, who autographed the educator's personalied license plates-R8TERFN-that hang from a chain around his neck. Abernathy wore a black jersey bearing Bo Jackson's No. 34.
Abernathy obtained the extra set of plates from the DMV, saying he lost the originals. The plates that he takes through security at the airport and wears on the plane bear the autographs of numerous Raider players past and present, such as Jim Otto, George Atkinson and Jack Tatum.
Abernathy was a Raider fan before he had a driver's license, before he earned his college degrees and before he was married. His interest was sparked as a kindergarten student in Pomona.
“I had a friend who was a Cowboy fan,” Abernathy said. “I hated the Cowboys. I picked the Rainders. I don't know why.”
As a 9-year-old, he was taken to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, where he saw the Raiders pound the Minnesota Vikings for their first Super Bowl win.
He said he didn't realize how special and difficult it was to get Super Bowl tickets when he had to go through a Marriott Hotel executive to be able to attend the game in San Diego in January of 2003, when the Raiders lost to the Tampa Bay Bucs.
He first worked in a movie theater to earn money to buy tickets for Raider games at the Los Angeles Coliseum. He started out with end zone seats and moved to the 20-yard line in 1994, the year before the team moved back to Oakland.
Once the team went to Oakland, he plunked down $10,000 for a personal seat license for season tickets.
As he grew older, he realized why he liked the Raiders.
“Just the winning is what really attracted me to the Raiders,” he said. “I really bought into the team of the decades. It comes down to the tradition. I never had to suffer until the last five years.”
He started working at the Miller Brewing Company plant in Irwindale to earn money to buy his season tickets and pay his way through college. He graduated from Pomona High in 1986. He earned a bachelor's degree in liberal studies in 1993 from Cal State Fullerton. “I had to pay for it, so it was a struggle,” said Abernathy, who worked 40 hours a week.
When the Raiders considered moving to a new stadium in Irwindale, he was elated. But the plans for the stadium fell through.
Besides the Raiders, Abernathy said education was his other passion in life. He was motivated by a teacher when he was younger.
His work as a teacher and an educational administrator has enabled him to afford to go the games in Oakland. He said he put the personal seat license fee on a credit card. It took years to pay them off.
Abernathy said it has become more difficult to maintain his commitment to the Raiders as his children have grown older. This year he missed three regular season games. He will not be going to the home finale Dec. 21 against the Houston Texans.
He was not hearbroken when the team moved back to Oakland from Los Angeles in 1995. “I figured they went back home,” he said. “Once they went up to Oakland, the Raiders became more accessible. (In Oakland) I see the older players walking around. I've built a closer connection to them. To me they were remote in Southern California.”
Abernathy said the players -- especially the older ones -- are more accessible for autographs.
“The last five years have tested my loyalty,” he said. “It's not so much the losing. It's more the mystique coming off ... I keep reminding myself we were pretty spoiled by the winning.”
McLaughlin, his friend, said Abernathy's personna at work is completely different at work than as a fan wearing his personalized license plates around his neck. He wears a suit and tie to work.