Pottsville man wins Super Bowl tickets during visit to Arizona

Feb. 9—Brandon Kessock could hardly believe his ears when he heard the news: "You're going to the Super Bowl."

That those words were imparted to him by Donna Kelce, the mother of two star players competing in Super Bowl LVII — and spoken to him in front of a crowd of thousands of people, including said brothers — made the experience all the more satisfying and surreal.

What was intended to be a simple visit to friends near his former Air Force base in Arizona has turned out to be a magical, exuberant week exceeding all expectations — and will soon culminate in perhaps the most significant sporting event of his lifetime.

Kessock, a 26-year-old Pottsville native, and his friend, Pierce McDonald, of Tucson, won tickets to Super Bowl LVII during a visit to Monday's Opening Night, a media event in which the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles made their first — and only — public appearance together in advance of the big game.

Kessock had been visiting friends in Arizona, where he had been stationed as a member of the Air Force from 2018 to 2022, and he and McDonald decided to attend the event at the Footprint Center in Phoenix.

Kessock, a lifelong Eagles fan, wore a custom jersey emblazoned with his name and his favorite number — 7 — along with a Super Bowl LII logo in honor of Philadelphia's lone Super Bowl victory.

McDonald, a Chiefs fan, wore a jersey of wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who now plays for the Miami Dolphins.

Initially, Kessock's expectations for the event were not very high — he would have settled for the opportunity just to see the players in person and to receive a few autographs — but during a break in the proceedings, event officials invited him and his friend onstage.

There, the two had the chance to meet the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles mascots, as well as Donna Kelce, or "Momma Kelce," the mother of Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and Eagles center Jason Kelce.

It was then that they received the news.

"The lady that was running the whole show said, 'On behalf of Momma Kelce, you two are going to the Super Bowl,' " Kessock said. "And it took a few seconds to even comprehend what was happening. And before we even got to react, the crowd just started screaming because it was both a Chiefs and an Eagles fan getting tickets."

He recalls the moment that followed as one of sheer happiness and euphoria.

"(The crowd) starts screaming, which really showed us how important what just happened was, so we just go crazy onstage, hugging each other, screaming," Kessock said. "And they hand us the big tickets, the cutouts, and we are just on cloud nine.

"Honestly, that whole sequence of events went by so fast — we were getting bear-hugged by the mascots, leading Eagles chants. ... Just to get given tickets by Momma Kelce was a dream come true."

Kessock spent the rest of the event in a daze, unable to pay attention to the proceedings and struggling to comprehend what had happened.

A 2015 graduate of Pottsville Area High School, Kessock has been watching the Eagles for as long as he can remember. His earliest memories of the team date back to the early 2000s, when the team was quarterbacked by Donovan McNabb and coached by Andy Reid, who is now head coach of the Chiefs.

When he was stationed in Qatar in 2018, Kessock was up at 6 a.m. to watch the Eagles play in Super Bowl LII, en route to their first Lombardi Trophy in franchise history.

For Kessock, who now lives in his native Pottsville, this year's game would have presented the rare opportunity to watch an Eagles playoff game with his family — but, as it turns out, those plans were averted.

Kessock made plans last week to visit his Air Force friends in Tucson, noting the timely occurrence of his favorite team gearing up for the Super Bowl in nearby Glendale. He had planned to return to Pottsville on Saturday, in time to watch the game with his family.

Kessock is not sure why he and McDonald, of all the people at Opening Night, were the ones invited to the Super Bowl. But he conjectures that Donna Kelce, seeing the two together, sympathized with their situation.

Wearing her signature split jersey, with the Chiefs' Travis Kelce represented on the front and the Eagles' Jason Kelce in the back, "Momma" Kelce made the announcement Monday, telling the friends to relish this "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity.

"You better be cheering for each other's teams, just like I will," Donna Kelce told them. "The Super Bowl's a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

"The fact that we were there together, and with the Momma Kelce story, I think they wanted to pick two fans of opposite teams," Kessock said. "Everything lined up, and we were just lucky to be there."

While he laments the fact that he will not watch the game with his family, he said they will be in his thoughts Sunday as he wears his signature "Kessock" jersey.

"It's an experience that not many people get to do, and they're coming with me," Kessock said, "and I'm going to be sharing this with them as much as I can."

Contact the writer: hlee@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6085