Tri-Cities fan hadn’t missed this game in 69 years. 2 teens made sure pandemic didn’t stop her

Donna Rasmussen watched the Kennewick High Lions battle the Pasco High Bulldogs when she was 12.

For the next 69 years, come rain or shine, she never missed sitting in the stands to see her favorite teams face off.

At first, she was a die-hard Lions fan and later began cheering for the Bulldogs after she moved to Pasco.

So, the 81-year-old and her husband were thrilled when they learned prep games were starting up again last weekend with eased COVID-19 restrictions. Then they discovered very few people would be allowed to attend in person.

“I was really sad that I wasn’t going to be able to go,” she told the Herald. “I have always loved sports. .... I started going when I was in elementary school I graduated from Kennewick, and then my girls went to Pasco, so then I became a Bulldogs fan.”

The couple planned to find a spot outside the fence at Edgar Brown Stadium in Pasco where they could see the game from the car.

That’s when Traeton Mitchell and Troy Veliz, two Pasco football players that Rasmussen had never met, stepped up to make a grandmother’s day.

High school football fan

Rasmussen grew up in Kennewick with three brothers who played sports and a father who coached Little League baseball.

The Kennewick High grad supported the team until she and her husband moved to Pasco and her two daughters attended school there.

Her daughter, Sharee McKay, said she only missed two of her games the entire time she played. One because her car had broken down on her way to Oregon and once when she needed some emergency surgery.

Pasco has twice dedicated homecoming to Rasmussen, and athletic officials came to her retirement celebration when she left working for the Finley School District.

Once, she even traveled to Juneau, Alaska, to watch her Pasco Bulldogs play.

But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year, schools closed and sports halted until last month, when teams were able to practice with restrictions.

And games had limits too.

A limited number of people are allowed inside the stadium during games. And to keep attendance low, only senior members of the football team could have a ticket for a family member or friend.

Good news

Rasmussen was still going to watch the game.

As she and her husband were staking out spots outside the stadium one day, they got the first hint of good news.

“Leon yelled out, ‘I’m working on it, Donna!’” she recounted.

Pasco coach Leon Wright-Jackson has known the Pasco woman for years. She even remembers watching him play in the early 2000s. The former running back was part of 2003 state championship team.

And he works alongside Rasmussen’s daughter as a special needs teacher at McLoughlin Middle School in Pasco. McKay mentioned to him that her mom was going to miss the game for the first time in nearly 70 years.

Wright-Jackson and Bulldog sports announcer David Schick tried to find a way to get her into the stadium, but there was no way to allow more spectators under the restrictions.

Then, Wright-Jackson told his team members about Rasmussen and her Bulldog loyalty.

“Without hesitation, two of his senior captains, said, ‘Coach, this is a no-brainer. We want you to give them our tickets and have them be our guests at the game!’” McKay relayed on her Facebook page.

McKay still cries over the gesture by Mitchell and Veliz.

She sent a message to her mother when she received the tickets, and soon they were both crying.

“I really did cry,” Rasmussen told the Herald. “I didn’t meet these guys yet they gave me their tickets.”

She and her husband bundled up and joined a few other spectators in the bleachers to watch the game Feb. 26. They brought along signs thanking the teens.

While she wishes the Bulldogs could have won the game, she was still happy she got to see the action in person.

“Pasco lost, but it was OK. Kennewick is my second favorite team,” she said. “It was just really great to see a high school game again.”