2. links to the story all over. On Friday morning we found out that some of the Bison players had read the
story and saw the video of Jordan and were tweeting links as examples of Bison Pride. Jordan was so
thrilled to hear of players mentioning his name.
Then we arrived in Frisco. Upon arrival, Norma Borgenson with the NDSU Alumni Association (whom we
had never met) wrote to us and told us that our room was taken care of at the La Quinta Hotel in Plano,
TX for 2 nights. It was more than that. As we entered our room it was decked out with ribbons and
balloons, all in Bison colors. There were a couple of baskets on the
beds with all sorts of Bison gear, from pom poms to a Bison poster
signed by Coach Craig Bohl. There was candy and snacks and a
wonderful assortment of Bison items. In addition Norma told us
that people had given her money and they had an envelope with
cash in it that should cover all of our meals and expenses while we
were there. We couldn’t believe
what was happening.
That night we went to the Pep Rally and along with 9,000 other Bison
fans had a wonderful time. Other than Jordan’s feet getting cold
because of his lack of circulation, we had a great time and were so
pumped for the next morning. Chad Stark had invited us to tailgate
with he and his group called the “Grillmasters” so arrangements were
made to meet Chad the next morning. Chad warned Annette that night Having a great time at Bison Pep
that he didn’t know what to expect as “this thing is going viral and I have Rally
so many people coming up to me who want to do something”.
The next morning we got Jordan up as early as possible and completed his 45 minutes of lung treatment
and therapy. He was too excited to eat anything so at about 8:30 we started out for Pizza Hut Park in
Frisco. We arrived just before 9:00
and found Chad and the entire
Grillmasters group.
We had never met Chad before so
had a very nice time meeting him
while he presented Jordan and Jesse
with their “must have” official Bison
head gear for the day! The boys
loved their new Bison fur hats and
horns and wore them with pride.
Jordan enjoyed talking with Chad one
Talking football with Chad
on one for a little bit while chowing down
on some delicious barbeque that was grilled up by true
Jordan and Jess meet Chad Stark
“Grillmasters”.
3. Chad went on to introduce us to many of his
fellow players and friends. I have never seen
so many championship rings in one place!
Former Bison
players began to
introduce
themselves to
Jordan, sign the
back of his
jersey, and wish
him well. We all
enjoyed meeting
Some of the Bison Legends and Grillmasters so many of the
legends, including getting to see one of our all‐time
Bison favorites and Buffalo Bills Wall of Famer, Phil
Hansen. (Annette and I grew up in Buffalo, NY and
still love the professional version of the “Bison”)
Then Norma Borgenson found
us and we met her and her
husband for the first time. It
was so wonderful to finally
meet her and to thank her for
all that she had done.
Then we received a call from a reporter with WDAY who wanted to bring a video
camera by for a picture of Jordan. We spent about 10 minutes being interviewed
Jordan and Norma Meet for the WDAY newscast that was aired back in Fargo later that day.
At 10:23 am Jordan received his scheduled call from Christopher Gabriel Radio Show and was
interviewed on the Radio. He was asked who a couple of his favorite players were. His answer,” well I
have a couple of favorites on offense and on defense. On offense, I like Tyler Gimmestad and Brock
Jensen, and on defense, I like Marcus Williams and Grant Olson”. Jordan, what do you think the keys to
the game are? “Well, I think the offensive line is going to have to open some good holes for Crockett
and Ojuri to run through, and Brock is going to need to be careful I with the ball and not throw any
interceptions. And we need Marcus to have a good runback and possibly a couple of picks”. And
Jordan, what do you think the final score will be? His answer, “24‐10 Bison!”
As we prepared to wrap up and head into the game, Chad had another surprise for us courtesy of the
Grillmasters and others. He stated that everyone had been putting money into a hat to cover the costs
of the food and beverages for the tailgating. They had made a decision that after all the expenses were
covered, they wanted our family to have the cash that was leftover to help us offset some of the costs
we were incurring for Jordan’s lung transplant. He went on to say that when people started realizing
that the extra would go to Jordan, they gave extra. 10s and 20s became 50s and 100 dollar bills. We
were absolutely overwhelmed. He handed me a box of bills that later we counted that had close to
$2,000 in it. After the game, another Grillmaster member, Scott Differding, whom we had also never