Giles L. (Bud) Pellerin (December 23, 1906 – November 21, 1998), nicknamed the Superfan or Super Fan, was an American telephone company executive,
USC
USC most often refers to:
* University of South Carolina, a public research university
** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses
**South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program
* University of ...
alumnus, and a
fan of the
University of Southern California Trojans
The USC Trojans are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ' ...
(USC)
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
team, notable for having attended 797 consecutive USC football games over a period of 74 years until his death at age 91. This record was made all the more remarkable by the fact that Pellerin hated flying and, whenever possible, drove or rode the train or bus to every game he attended. He was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995.
Pellerin's streak began in 1925, while he was still a student at USC (he graduated in 1930). During his streak he attended USC games in 75 stadiums in over 50 cities. Until his death, he had watched every game played in USC's major football rivalries, including 68 games with
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
and 69 games with
Notre Dame. He had seen the introduction of USC icons such as
Traveler in 1961 and
Tommy Trojan
Tommy Trojan, officially known as the Trojan Shrine, is one of the most recognizable figures of school pride at the University of Southern California. The life-size bronze statue of a Trojan warrior stands in the center of campus and serves as a p ...
in 1930. He had witnessed all but one of USC's
bowl game
In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...
s, including the regular-season
Mirage Bowl in Tokyo, Japan in
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
. During his streak USC went 532-225-40, winning nine
national championships
A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...
, and played under ten different head coaches.
Pellerin never played football himself. A resident of the
Pasadena
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
Its ...
area for his entire life, he attended his first USC football game while still a student at
Huntington Park High School
Huntington Park High School is a public high school in Huntington Park, California, part of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
History
The First Grammar School was initially built in 1904. The election was held with 21 registered voters ca ...
, going to the
1923
Events
January–February
* January 9 – Lithuania begins the Klaipėda Revolt to annex the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory).
* January 11 – Despite strong British protests, troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area, t ...
Rose Bowl Game
The Rose Bowl Game is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2. The Rose ...
in which USC defeated
Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...
. It was USC's first appearance in the Rose Bowl and Pellerin would go on to see the Trojans' next 27 appearances as well. In his private life, Pellerin married and became a successful executive with Pacific Telephone Company, completing his career in the 1960s as director of a computerized billing office in Orange, California with a staff of 450 female and 7 male employees. He delayed his own 1935
honeymoon
A honeymoon is a vacation taken by newlyweds immediately after their wedding, to celebrate their marriage. Today, honeymoons are often celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic. In a similar context, it may also refer to the phase ...
by eight months in order to combine it with a USC football road game (against the
University of Hawaii
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...
in
Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
) and donated over US$1.3 million to the university to endow four
athletic scholarship
An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United Stat ...
s: three for football and one for
swimming
Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...
. Pellerin claimed to have traveled over 650,000 miles and spent $85,000 to attend the games in his streak. In 1949, he walked out of a hospital just five days after an
appendectomy
An appendectomy, also termed appendicectomy, is a Surgery, surgical operation in which the vermiform appendix (a portion of the intestine) is removed. Appendectomy is normally performed as an urgent or emergency procedure to treat complicated acu ...
to attend a home game, telling nurses that he was going for a walk.
USC embraced Pellerin and began including his story in their annual football
media guide. By the 1990s he had become a subject for many sports journalists, including stories in ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' and ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...
'' and on the
ABC Network. In 1995, Pellerin was enshrined in the USC Athletic Hall of Fame as part of the second class of inductees. He won the first annual
Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...
Diehard Fan Award as "America's NCAA Division I Diehard College Sports Fan" in 1996.
Death
Pellerin died during the 1998
UCLA–USC rivalry
The UCLA–USC rivalry is the American collegiate athletics rivalry between the UCLA Bruins sports teams of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and USC Trojans teams of the University of Southern California (USC).
Both universit ...
game. During the game, he felt ill and asked his next-younger brother, Oliver Pellerin, who was attending the game with him, to take him home. As he was being brought outside, he died of
cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possib ...
in the parking lot of the
Rose Bowl,
[J.A. ADANDE]
A Super Fan and a Super Streak: It is no surprise Giles Pellerin, 91, died while attending a USC game, his 797th in a row.
November 23, 1998 which was coincidentally the same location where he attended his first USC game.
His younger brothers also had long streaks. Oliver viewed 637 consecutive games (1945–2001), passing away in 2002 at age 93; the youngest, Max Pellerin, at one point had a streak of 300+, passing away in 2001 at age 91.
References
External links
– various articles from 1987 to 2002
– USC Athletic Department page
– AP report, November 21, 1998, ''Accessed Sept. 19, 2006''.
– USC Athletic Department page, May 14, 2002, ''Accessed Sept. 19, 2006''.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pellerin, Giles
1906 births
1998 deaths
Spectators of American football
USC Trojans football
University of Southern California alumni
People from Pasadena, California
American telecommunications industry businesspeople