NEW ORLEANS — A Super Saints fan has been on a mission for years. That mission was to meet Drew Brees. And then he found out Brees wanted to meet him. Thursday was his big chance at the Saints Hall of Fame ceremony.
So, would it happen?
Back in May, when Drew Brees found out he was being inducted into the Saints Hall of Fame, he talked about a fan, and his ever-growing family, he noticed every time he reviewed game footage.
"There is this guy, and I still have never met him," Brees said in a press conference in May 2024. "I would love to meet him. We called him "Red" because he has red hair, and Red from 2006 to 2020 when I was here, Red had these season tickets that literally sat right behind the scoreboard,” Brees said.
Well back in May we found “Red.” Mike Lester owns N'Awlins Sports in the French Quarter and Hammond. He went into the sports apparel business because of his lifelong love of the Saints.
“I mean, they were literally tears in my eyes. I mean, it was, you know, the Saints loving me back,” said Mike Lester in May.
Since then, he's tried to meet Drew every time he came to town. Then Thursday, Saints Hall of Famer, Michael Lewis, aka The Beer Man, who met Mike at his store, invited him to the Brees Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
“And the first thing I did was call Mike and was like, ‘Hey, I got something special for you' ", said Michael Lewis, team ambassador of the New Orleans Saints. "I want you to come with me to the luncheon, so you get this chance to see Drew and everything like that,” Lewis said.
Mike and the entire family of Super fans, nephew Christopher Kirchein, who won the craziest fan contest, and children MJ and Alexis, came with a box of memorabilia with Super Bowl jerseys, coins, tickets, shirts, a license plate, a ticket from the first dome game Drew played, programs, and a limited-edition newspaper that the players got after winning the Super Bowl.
“Nobody really has this. Everybody has the “Amen” paper,” noted Lester, referring to the headline.
So, with hundreds and hundreds of not only Saints fans but Drew Brees fans at the Saints Hall of Fame awards ceremony, could we make it happen?
Then while Drew was waiting to go on stage, and talking to people, we called out.
“Drew, I have a surprise for you. I have a surprise for you. It's Big Red,” I called out.
And Brees said, “This is the official Big Red man, and this is Little Red, Medium Red. Hi, how are you guys doing?”
“It's amazing all these years to hear you say that. I'm sitting there watching you, and you were watching me. I mean it’s just a dream come true, dream come true,” Lester told Brees.
Drew asked for a selfie. He hugged Little Red and Medium Red. He gave them his autograph.
“And to be recognized by somebody, the true G.O.A.T. of the NFL, to be recognized by him, it meant something to me,” said Lester.
Mike said for personal reasons, the call out in May came at the right time. He said, “God knew what I needed that day, and sent a Saint my way.”
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