Penn State fan attends 500 consecutive football games

• By Haley O'Brien/WVIA News

Ed Sirianni says it all started 41 years ago. He was best man at a friend’s wedding, and he missed the game. Penn State beat Nebraska 27-24.

“It was probably the greatest game ever played at Penn State,” he said. “They won in the last seven seconds, and they went on to win the national championship. So I said well I am never, never going to let this happen again.”

Since that day in 1982, Sirianni, who lives in Schuylkill Haven, has gone to every game – home and away. That’s a total of 500 football games all over the country, and even one in Dublin, Ireland. Sirianni estimates he drove more than 300,000 miles.

In 2020, the height of the pandemic, the Schuylkill County native drove to games just to sit in the parking lot. Even a shoulder surgery couldn’t get in his way.

“After the surgery, I was laying on the table,” Sirianni said about his surgeon. “And he says, well Ed, I guess you’ll miss the Illinois game tomorrow. And I said, well doc, you guessed wrong.”

Sirianni started working security at Beaver Stadium in 2003. He also married his wife at the 50-yard-line during a game against Buffalo.

The Hometown Heroes organization, which honors veterans at games, learned about Sirianni, who served in Vietnam.

They recognized him at the 500th straight game he attended, which happened to fall on Veterans Day.

The longest streak for college football was reportedly 797 games, attended by a die-hard U.S.C. fan. He died at a USC game in the Rose Bowl parking lot, according to the New York Times.

Sirianni says his friends call him crazy.

“Yes,” he said. “I guess maybe they were right.”