Speaker 1: My next guest is a man who has been a
Speaker 1: life long CU Buffs fan, dedicated fan. He was a
Speaker 1: ticket holder season ticket holder from nineteen seventy seven to
Speaker 1: two thousand and four.
Speaker 2: Now Riley Rhodes needs a little bit more help.
Speaker 1: So he is in a long term care facility and
Speaker 1: he has just been granted a Wish of a lifetime.
Speaker 1: Now we interview Jerry Bloom Jeremy Bloom here fairly recently
Speaker 1: about Wish of a Lifetime. What is now a charitable
Speaker 1: affiliate of AARP. What they do is grant life changing
Speaker 1: wishes to older adults and they want to inspire people
Speaker 1: to redefine aging in America. Riley joins us now to
Speaker 1: talk about his big adventure coming up very soon at CU.
Speaker 2: Riley, It's great to see you.
Speaker 3: That's great to see you too, Mandy.
Speaker 1: So tell me a little bit about how you became
Speaker 1: a CU Buffs fan.
Speaker 2: What happened there?
Speaker 4: Well, I just uh uh through junior high school and
Speaker 4: high school and just follow them all they could.
Speaker 3: You know, they're game on TV and their bowl games
Speaker 3: and all that. So I was just I was a
Speaker 3: lifetime fan of them.
Speaker 1: So when you found out that coach Prime was coming
Speaker 1: to see you because they had some rough years there, Rightley,
Speaker 1: I don't need to tell you they had some rough years.
Speaker 1: When you found out coach Prime was coming to say,
Speaker 1: what did you think?
Speaker 3: I was so excited.
Speaker 4: I just started watching the videos of him on there
Speaker 4: from the very beginning I hired. He was actually so
Speaker 4: him riding his bike around the Champions Center there.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, now you're going to get to You're going
Speaker 1: to get to meet him as part of this adventure,
Speaker 1: are you not?
Speaker 3: I would hope so, I think.
Speaker 1: So what are you most looking forward to as a
Speaker 1: as a season ticket holder? You've probably seen a lot
Speaker 1: of football games, but now you're gonna get it kind of.
Speaker 2: An inside view.
Speaker 1: You're supposed to meet some players and a coach the
Speaker 1: day before and then get to go to the game.
Speaker 1: Have you ever had the opportunity to go behind the
Speaker 1: scenes before?
Speaker 4: Not really, No, I've been kind of there at the
Speaker 4: game ballstander when they marching band march through to see them,
Speaker 4: you know, but they have be going to meet the
Speaker 4: band on Friday afternoon, so I'll give you that. When
Speaker 4: they march down Pearl Street.
Speaker 2: Are you going to get to march down with him?
Speaker 3: Well? More or less. I think you know you carry
Speaker 3: the big drum band marching band, so I like that.
Speaker 2: What did you play in marching band?
Speaker 4: Well, I played the French arm But in the marching
Speaker 4: band I played the altonium is like a small baritone?
Speaker 2: What wait a minute, what is that again?
Speaker 3: What is that?
Speaker 2: A small baritone? Of what?
Speaker 3: Altonia is a smaller size baritone?
Speaker 1: I don't know what a baritone is, Riley. I'm not
Speaker 1: a musical person, and I certainly can't play an instrument.
Speaker 1: So you've lost me at that. Is it a saxophone
Speaker 1: or is it its own instrument?
Speaker 2: What is it?
Speaker 3: There's a brass in inst event, you know?
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 1: So Riley, what are you looking forward to the most
Speaker 1: out of this adventure?
Speaker 4: Well, just the whole experience really, you know, I just
Speaker 4: meet the team everything, watch them play in person now,
Speaker 4: so yeah, that'd be really exciting.
Speaker 1: I'd like to ask Tammy a question because she is
Speaker 1: one of the administrators at the senior living facility where
Speaker 1: you are.
Speaker 2: She's the one that nominated you.
Speaker 1: Tammy, what made Riley stand out that he would nominate
Speaker 1: him for the Wish of a Lifetime with AARP.
Speaker 5: Well, I've been here at Lubland Village for about two
Speaker 5: and a half years, and over that time, I just
Speaker 5: got to know Riley and we kind of each mutually
Speaker 5: figured out that we had a big heart for the
Speaker 5: CU Buffaloes and football in general. So it kind of
Speaker 5: started off with, you know, Riley would kind of come
Speaker 5: to my office and shared news articles about CU Buffs
Speaker 5: and also other football teams. And then, you know, especially
Speaker 5: during football season, you know, then usually every Monday we
Speaker 5: had to catch up on the game and all the
Speaker 5: great stuff that happened. And it became even more so
Speaker 5: when Dion Sanders came to coach the Buffs. And so,
Speaker 5: you know, over this course of time, I've just gotten
Speaker 5: to know Riley better and I kind of discovered a
Speaker 5: few things. You know, that he was almost a thirty
Speaker 5: year season ticket holder for the Buffs, that it had
Speaker 5: been twenty years since he's been able to be at
Speaker 5: a football game and person at Folsom Field, and so
Speaker 5: I just kind of thought, you know, boy, would I
Speaker 5: be able to love to figure out a way to
Speaker 5: get him to go to a game. And it was
Speaker 5: right about that same time that I found out about
Speaker 5: Wish of a Lifetime and so I thought, you know what,
Speaker 5: maybe I'm going to submit Riley for a wish, And
Speaker 5: so I did that over the summer and we found
Speaker 5: out I think it was in August, Hey, Riley, that
Speaker 5: his wish was being granted. So so yeah, so it's
Speaker 5: been pretty exciting since then, and I'm so excited for
Speaker 5: Riley for the experience that he's.
Speaker 3: Going to have.
Speaker 1: Well, Riley, I'm excited for you too. I'm going to
Speaker 1: let you get rested up. You got your buffs Jersey.
Speaker 1: Are you ready to get your buff skier on to
Speaker 1: go to the game.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I bet they're going to give you some new gear
Speaker 1: to wear as well too. Riley and Tammy, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for making time for us today. I love
Speaker 1: Wish of a Lifetime and I really am happy to
Speaker 1: bring some more awareness of what that actually he does.
Speaker 1: Because Tammy, what a great thing for you to be
Speaker 1: able to give Riley a great wish and he's going
Speaker 1: to have the opportunity to go watch his beloved Buffs
Speaker 1: play and meet some players because of Wish of a Lifetime.
Speaker 1: If you have an older person in your life that
Speaker 1: has a wish to be granted, I would urge you
Speaker 1: to look up wish of a lifetime and nominate them
Speaker 1: as well. Riley, thank you so much for your time today. Yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you, bus go Bobs, Thanks Riley and Dammy.
Speaker 2: Appreciate you guys making time for us today. All right,
Speaker 2: that is just a sweet story