The gentleman pictured here, sandwiched between an excessively tanned dude and Santa Claus is Jim Becker, lifelong Packers fan, and newest inductee into the Green Bay Packers FAN Hall of Fame.
And his story borders on the unbelievable.
Jim is now 79-years-old, and has been a Packers season ticket holder from 1952 to 2008. He and his wife raised 11 children, so there were a lot of lean years, where extra money for Packers season tickets was hard to come by. So Jim found a way to make some extra cash in order to see his beloved Packers play at Lambeau Field.
He sold his blood…at $15 a pint.
Call it dedication, call it borderline obsessive, call it what you want–either way, it got Jim the cash for his season tix. It also saved his life.
Literally.
At one time, Becker had to fill out a questionnaire regarding his family medical history. The doctor noticed that Jim’s father had died from hemochromatosis, a condition whereby the blood retains excessive amounts of iron. Ends up that Jim had it too…and the only treatment is, you guessed it, by giving blood. At that time, Jim had sold about 145 pints of his blood for his season tickets–a move which most assuredly saved his life.
Mr. Becker becomes the 12th member of the Packers FAN Hall of Fame, an idea the organization came up with back in 1998 to annually honor a devout fan of the team.
