Denver Broncos bring Super Bowl trophy to super fan’s funeral

One Denver Broncos super fan didn’t get to see the team win their Super Bowl over the Carolina Panthers, but they brought the Vince Lombardi trophy to his funeral as a nice gesture.

Sometimes fate has a funny way of working things out, and sometimes fate turns a very unfortunate situation into a better one. Bob Carney was a true Denver Broncos super fan. He would take pages and pages of notes — according to an ESPN report on him — on the Broncos draft picks each year so he could know all about the new players that were going to be suiting up in orange and blue. Carney was a season ticket holder since before the Super Bowl even existed, and although he did see the team win two Super Bowls in his lifetime, he had never had the opportunity to see one in person. But fate put him in a position to attend Super Bowl 50.

Carney won two tickets from the Broncos themselves to the big game, and was obviously looking forward to finally seeing his team play in person. Unfortunately, he died in the lobby of his hotel, never getting to get into the game where the Broncos would be playing in yet another Super Bowl, their second appearance in four years.

His daughter, who was going to attend the game with him, did a great job of honoring her father by still attending the Super Bowl as well as getting his classic Broncos outfit sent to the mortuary so it could be with her father when the team won, but no one honored her father quite like the Broncos’ franchise did.

The team found out about Carney and his passing because he was going on their behalf, and wanted to do something special for the super fan and his family. Representatives from the Broncos, as well as a player attended Carney’s funeral and brought the Vince Lombardi trophy along with them to display at his funeral.

Carney’s daughter said that people at the funeral were moved by the gesture from the Broncos. She said, “People who had known my dad who didn’t care for football told me they just became Broncos fans.”

This world — although oftentimes made much more enjoyable because of sports — is much bigger than sports, and the Broncos showed their understanding for that with this gesture. It’s incredible the impact that a football team had on Carney and his family, and that the team was responsive to how much of a role they played in this man’s life.