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KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- A pair of Kansas City Chiefs fans traveled nearly 4,000 miles to cheer on their squad in the AFC Championship game, but their love for the team goes beyond the players.
On Sunday, Arrowhead Stadium will be packed with Chiefs fans and that includes a pair from Fairbanks, Alaska.
Before we get to that, let’s go back to last Sunday when the score was 24-0...
“I was like, ‘Oh my,’” said Dorothy Shockley, who lives in Alaska. “I was texting my family down here, ‘What the hell?’”
However, it was that comeback that inspired Shockley and her daughter, Joy, to start searching for tickets for the AFC Championship game.
“I thought it would be too expensive and it just wouldn’t work out,” Joy Huntington said.
However, the Alaskan pair ended up getting two tickets to the game and embarking on the more than 15-hour trip to KC.
They were greeted rather warmly, first by fans and then by family here in KC.
“People are hugging us at the airport already because they like the hat and I’m like, ‘We came from Alaska’ and then they like pick us up and twirl us around because we came from so far away,” Huntington said.
One of the main reasons they call themselves Chiefs die-hards is very touching.
“It was through Barry, my late husband,” Shockley explained. “When we met, he was just a huge sports fan and always Chiefs, Royals.”
Barry was born and raised in KC but ventured off to Alaska when he was just 17 years old.
“His dream was to kind of be out more in remote areas of the country fishing, hunting,” his daughter said. “He was really into the outdoors and Alaska was his dream.”
It’s a dream he fulfilled. It included meeting his future wife and raising a family.
In 2007, Barry passed away. By that point, though, his love for the Chiefs had already quickly spread throughout Alaska.
“He kind of created this whole Chiefs fan community in Alaska and people still wear hats kind of in honor of him, but also because they’ve grown to love the team,” Huntington said.
That love and loyalty has stayed strong among Shockley and Huntington.
“Driving over here to his parents’ house is the time when I miss him,” Shockley said. “I know he’s up there cheering.”
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