PHOENIX — A Cardinals superfan and former cheerleader who was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame for her lifelong love for the Red Sea is making the bird gang bigger – one "baby bird" at a time.
We first introduced you to Kristi Brown right before she left for Super Bowl 55.
She was on hand to see Bruce Arians and more than 20 other former Cardinals on the biggest stage in American professional sports.
She got her ticket in part just for being a really good Cardinals fan.
Back in February, she was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Out of over 20,000 candidates, she was voted in as one of the top three fans in the NFL.
A video of her reaction shows her screaming at the top of her lungs upon seeing David Baker, president of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, knock on the conference room door she was sitting in to tell her she would be part of the hall of fame as a superfan.
Along with Super Bowl tickets — the hall of fame ring, and jacket — she will forever have a gold plaque in the same Canton, Ohio hall as the greatest to ever step on the gridiron.
“It still doesn’t seem real,” said Kristi smiling ear to ear.
When Kristi was just three years old, she was taken to her first Cardinals game at Sun Devils Stadium.
”I remember being very hot,” she said.
That day she knew – she had to be more than just a member of the bird gang from the stands. So she made it her life’s goal to be a Cardinals cheerleader.
Kristi would be rejected for five years before her persistence would pay off. She became part of the cheer team in 2010 and 2011.
” Looking up and seeing my fan family, that have supported me since I was three years old to follow my dreams, it was just putting the whole picture together,” she said.
But before football comes family and Kristi turned in her pom-poms for baby bottles.
Kristi and her husband had two Cardinals fans of their own; Brodie who is now 8 and Braden, 5.
These days she’s still working full-time as a delivery nurse.
And she makes sure any new life she helps bring into this world is immediately part of the bird gang
“Every delivery I attend, I bring in a Cardinals beanie. I tell the patient, ‘I don’t care what you guys are. Your baby has to enter this world a Cardinals fan,’” she said.
Now with her team looking for their 10th win of the season this Sunday, she’s hoping to go to another Super Bowl.
”As a true Cardinals fan, I’m cautiously optimistic,” she said.
Hall of fame fandom – that she says comes with the responsibility of sharing the love of the game – that’s as deep and wide as the Red Sea.
”If I can make at least one person a Cardinal fan, that hadn’t had a team or was deciding who he or she wanted to follow, then my job here is done,” she said.
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Hall of Famer, Cardinals superfan builds bird gang one 'baby bird' at a time - ABC15 Arizona
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