LARAMIE — Decked out in full Josh Allen gear, the Spear family made attending Saturday’s University of Wyoming football game a mini vacation.
While he probably doesn’t remember, 9-year-old Matthew was first in the presence of the powerhouse quarterback at the tender age of 6 months old, when the Pokes upset Boise State in 2016.
To be here now, when his favorite football player returns for the first time since he was drafted into the NFL in 2018, is the stuff of a kid’s dream come true.
“I’m pretty excited,” the young Spear said.
Yeah, he and 30,000 others who turned out to watch his No. 17 become the first UW football player to be retired.
This whole Allen affair is as exciting to his parents, because they say Allen is an ideal role model.
“Josh’s character is really good for these kids to look up to,” said mom, Stephanie Spear.
That’s a sentiment echoed by Stephanie Coca-Carter of Laramie, who said that for her two grandchildren, who are 8 and 6, Allen’s morals and values are as commendable as his athleticism.
“He’s an amazing role model,” she said.
‘He Knows His Roots’
Leading up to Saturday’s game, the rumor mill was working overtime, such as Allen might video his appearance rather than showing up in person.
The NFL MVP proved those sorts of naysayers wrong, while also proving it’s possible to navigate fame in a way that not everyone can — by remembering who he is and where he came from.
Whether overt or implied, it’s evident in Allen’s actions: Staying with the current Cowboys team until every player who wanted a photo could get one, or telling fans who’ve itched for seven years for his return that he loves them too.
These sorts of stories are too plentiful to be PR spin and why people have foregone longtime team allegiances to become Bills fans, just so they can continue cheering on the quarterback and marvel each Sunday when he says “go Pokes” on national television.
While it might be tempting to thank Allen for some of those game-winning plays that made his era of Cowboys football particularly unforgettable, if given the opportunity, Quinn Clark of Casper would instead pass along a sentiment shared by so many: A sense of gratitude for who Allen is and what he means to the state.
“I would tell him I appreciate him,” Clark said, while taking a break from grill duty at the tailgating spot where he and a group of friends were one of only two overnight campers in the parking lot.
“He hasn’t forgotten where he came from,” Clark said of Allen. “He knows his roots and he’s not ashamed of them.”
‘He Fit Right In’
Part of what made Allen an easy athlete to cheer for from the beginning is the underdog story forged by the challenges he faced early in his career, said Amy Danbro, who worked with the quarterback as the student manager for the football team.
“He wasn’t over himself,” Danbro said.
It was obvious that Allen's regular-guy persona wasn’t a put-on, either. It’s the real deal, said Denise Streeter of Laramie, who has seen plenty of players come and go over the years.
“He was just a Wyoming Cowboy, he fit right in,” she said.
It didn’t matter, of course, that Allen is technically a Californian, it was how down-to-earth he is that most impressed so many Wyomingites, said Chancey Williams, the country music star from Moorcroft.
“Wyoming is neat in that people really back their own,” he said.
‘Josh Is A Cowboy’
Even so, Allen’s caliber of fame would make it more difficult to drop into the 3rd Street Bar on a Friday night for a beer, as Williams did.
That doesn’t stop people around town from musing about what might happen were the football phenom to experience the Friday night festivities he never could as an athlete.
Wyomingites are the types who would really want to play it cool, even if that would be impossible in Allen’s presence, said Maggie Harrop of Laramie, who was also at the 3rd Street Bar on Friday.
“It would go crazy in here if he walked in,” she added.
But for as out-of-worldly as people like Allen can seem, it can be important to remember that he puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like anybody else, said Marcus Law of Laramie.
“Josh is a Cowboy, he’s no better or worse than anybody else,” Law said. “But yet, I’m proud of him.”
‘The Real Deal’
The heaps of praises that flow Allen’s way don’t just happen in Laramie.
In September, Buffalonians were also eager to laud their hometown hero.
They say similar things back East — how Allen came to Buffalo and immediately embraced the community, how down-to-earth he is, how he’s reinvigorated the franchise and how he feels like one of their own.
Perhaps it’s that sense of kinship between two places that’s one of the most remarkable gifts that Allen has given his fans.
John Lang, aka Bills Elvis, should have been in Missoula, Montana, this weekend cheering on his beloved Montana Grizzlies in their big rivalry game against the Montana State Bobcats — the Brawl of the Wild.
But as a member of the Bills Mafia, Lang was in Laramie for the weekend, and he wouldn’t dream of being anywhere else.
“There's been a really great connection between the Bills Mafia and the Cowboys fans,” Lang said, adding that it’s helpful that both fanbases are equally passionate.
Laramie has come to feel like a second home, which is surreal, but also wouldn’t be possible were it not for No. 17.
“He’s the real deal, he really is,” Lang said of Allen.
Anna-Louise Jackson can be reached at: jackson.anna@gmail.com
