By Tom Rohrer
Through his experiences as a life-long sports fan, Drew Mikkelsen personally knows the impact a national championship can have on a community.
Mikkelsen, a reporter for KING 5 news in Seattle, grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. He witnessed the San Francisco 49ers capture five Super Bowl Championships between 1981 and 1994.
Following a move to the Seattle area as a teenager, Mikkelsen attended the University of Washington and was at the 1992 Rose Bowl when the Huskies defeated Michigan 34-14 to earn a share of the National Championship.
Fast forward a little over two decades and Mikkelsen again witnessed a champion rise to the top. He was present at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. for the Seattle Seahawks 43-8 victory over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Mikkelsen, who lives with his wife and two daughters in Olympia. “The way the whole region has responded to this team – there really isn’t a previous benchmark.”
After over a week of on-location reporting around New York City, Mikkelsen and the seventeen other crew members from KING 5 returned to Western Washington by early Tuesday morning.
Throughout his time in the Northeast, Mikkelsen had the opportunity to interview Seahawks coaches, players and fans. The South Bureau Chief for KING 5, Mikkelsen abandoned sports reporting to cover hard news stories early on in his professional career. Having a chance to combine work with his love of sports was a dream come true for Mikkelsen.
“I got to be in the post-game news conference with Pete Carroll, Richard Sherman, and Kam Chancellor,” said Mikkelsen. “I was a sports columnist in high school and this was my dream.”
Known amongst the NFL’s most passionate fan bases, Mikkelsen felt the 12th Man’s impact across the country.
“At one point, we were walking to the Staten Island ferry, and one of our photographers yelled across Wall Street ‘SEA,’” said Mikkelsen “Across the street, someone yelled back ‘HAWKS.’ Then there was a smattering of cheers from all four corners of the block. I said on Tuesday (following the Super Bowl), you wouldn’t get that reaction, and arguably wouldn’t hear that cheer in New York ever again.”
While preparing for a live show from Times Square the day before the big game, Mikkelsen was nervous that not enough Seahawks fans would be present for the camera shoot. Luckily, his worries did not come true.
“There turned out to be so many Seahawks fans. We talked to people from Bonney Lake, Rainier Beach, and Spokane,” said Mikkelsen. “This wasn’t a collection of corporate fans – this was a group of people who attended the last Super Bowl the Seahawks played in or someone who spent their life savings just to get out there. Eventually I found myself in the middle of Times Square talking to someone from Bonney Lake about the Seahawks. It’s pretty funny to think about.”
Another highlight from the trip was attending a Blue Friday party at a New Jersey bar that had been temporarily converted into a Seahawks establishment.
“We were in a bar in East Rutherford on Friday, and it was like I was in Kirkland,” said Mikkelsen. “It was amazing to see all these people from so far away.”
The day of the Super Bowl, Mikkelsen and his co-worker Tom Tedford, who also lives in Olympia, were able to avoid using the now infamous public train to the stadium. The team arrived on site about six hours before kick-off.
“There were times when Tom and I were walking around and one of us would say, ‘We’re not in Thurston County anymore,’” he noted.
Following a sequence of security checks, Mikkelsen and Tedford were able to watch the game from a view obstructed standing room only section.
Mikkelsen did not see a single play of the second half. Instead, he was going through the security measures to enter the field following the completion of the game.
“I was getting updates from my wife,” said Mikkelsen. “She’s not a big football fan so that goes to show you this wasn’t your typical sporting event.”
Only after the presentation of the Lombardi Trophy could Mikkelsen embark on the field.
“I thought we wouldn’t get any of the excitement. We get out there and confetti is still floating in the air. All the Seahawks fans were in the stadium and the energy was still high. Then they started playing Macklemore and I got chills,” said Mikkelsen. “I interviewed some fans and they were so excited. Pete Carroll came back out and then Russell Wilson. I got a great video clip of Steve Young, ESPN analyst and former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, hugging Wilson. That was special, because it was one of my childhood heroes (Young) hugging Russell and you could tell it was also a career moment for both of them.”
“We ended up being the last news crew in the stadium, and wrapped up at around 3 a.m. local time,” Mikkelsen continued. “We had the whole place to ourselves and really were wishing we had a football to throw around.”
During the days leading up to the Super Bowl, KING 5 aired Mikkelsen’s fan-focused stories. These stories included a look into Norm Johnson’s 12 Man Pale Ale, an interview with Seahawks wide receiver Jermaine Kearse and his teachers from Kearse’s alma mater Lakes High School in Lakewood and a Gig Harbor group with a piece of steel from the World Trade Center trying to raise money for a memorial.
“We had shot these stories already, so we were crossing our fingers hoping (Seattle) would get to the Super Bowl,” said Mikkelsen. “When we got to New York, we were already prepared.”
Now back to business as usual on the West Coast, Mikkelsen can reflect on his ‘once in a lifetime’ trip.
“It was a career highlight for me and I will remember it forever,” he said. “My job was to give fans at home a taste of what they were missing and I think we did that.”
Catch Drew Mikkelsen’s Super Bowl coverage through Twitter.
