Assuming this was the game when he came and was honored at half-time.
The next morning, I was waiting at a gate at the DSM airport when this old guy came barging in to talk to the agent. He was a bit boisterous and demanding, but I thought he just might be old and a little senile. When we boarded the plane, the line came to a halt and we eventually recognized that there was a problem at a row about 1/3 back with the same guy. He has spilled his coffee on a seat and they were trying to clean it up. Soon the line started moving again and I learned that the coffee was split on my seat and I now had the privilege of sitting next to the cranky old guy.
So, I did a little more to clean up the seat, sat down, and tried to ignore him. But he saw my ISU pin and asked if I was at the game yesterday. He said, "They had a tribute for me and my boys in the endzone at half-time." Immediately, I forgot about all the other stuff because I was sitting next to Johnny Majors!
He kept up what I now considered to be head-coach-ness, not mere crankiness, and it was directed at the hotel for giving him a newspaper that didn't have a sports section in it. His wife was on the other side and tried to pacify him, "Come, on now, Johnny!" in a classic Southern belle voice. I asked him if he would like to see the sports section via my online subscription. He did, so I logged in for him. Once I got to the article, he would just grunt and move his hand a little when he wanted me to scroll. It felt so cool to be making it possible for Johnny Majors to read about Iowa State football.
When he finished, he was really grateful. I asked if he wanted me to send him a print copy of the newspaper. He did and gave me his home address. When I returned, I sent him back issues of the DM Register and Ames Tribune for the whole weekend.
Crazy to think that I was able to help him with his enjoyment of the weekend of Iowa State football.
RIP Coach.