Past New York Commander Gary Schacher had a weekend to remember after being selected to represent The American Legion in the USAA and NFL Salute to Service at Super Bowl LX.
Legionnaire Gary Schacher’s flight on the first leg of his trip from New York to California was late, which at the time brought into question making his connecting flight in Charlotte questionable. But he made the flight.
And when he returned home earlier this week, he did so to frozen pipes in his house.
But in between those two incidents was a weekend that the past Department of New York Commander will likely never forget.
Schacher was chosen to attend Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, Calif., where he and his wife Laurie watched Seattle dominate New England 29-13. He was provided tickets via the NFL’s Salute to Service, a partnership between the NFL, USAA and The American Legion to recognize military veterans across the country.
“It’s just amazing,” Schacher said of the experience. “I’m so humbled that I was selected. There’s so many other veterans that are out there that are deserving. Me being selected, you know, wow. It was an amazing, amazing weekend. It was exhausting but just a great experience.”
Once out in California, Schacher stayed busy. In addition to he and his wife being provided gift bags that included Salute to Service swag, the pair attended the NFL Salute to Service event on Saturday. There, he was able to meet with New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart, who had gifted him the tickets. (Watch a video of their meet-up here).
“That was great meeting Jaxson. He’s so young. Twenty-two years old, my goodness,” Schacher said. “He offered up Giants tickets, which was great. I haven’t been to a Giants game since the early ‘70s. That was really neat.
“After we were done with the meet-and-greet, a woman comes up to me and says she’s (Dart’s) agent. She gave me her phone number and email address, and she said the schedule comes out in May and give her a call.”
During their conversation, Schacher said he found out Dart played in a baseball tournament in Cooperstown, N.Y., but never made it to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. “That’s 30 minutes from my house,” Schacher said. “I offered him up a trip to Cooperstown … and I’ll take him there as my guest and get him a behind-the-scenes tour.”
Schacher and his wife also were able to attend the Super Bowl Experience in San Francisco; through USAA, he was able to get passes to the experience with their daughter – who lives in Seatle – and her boyfriend.
And on Sunday, he and his wife were provided transportation to a tailgate party that Schacher said had “thousands of people” before entering the stadium 90 minutes before the game.
Watching the game in person “was amazing. The atmosphere was just unbelievable. You had fans rooting for both teams. The sun was out. It was 65 degrees. It was just great.
“Music ahead of time. Green Day played, which was really neat. They had a giant flag out on the field for the national anthem. It was just an awesome experience to be in person at the Super Bowl and not sitting on my couch watching the game.”
And the results of the game didn’t exactly bother Schacher. “Being a Jets fan, the Patriots usually kick the Jets behind,” he said. “The winner was who I was hoping for.”
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