By ADAM PINSKER
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
In November, Colts season ticket holder Maren Johnson was asked by the team to tape a segment for the team about its 40th anniversary in Indianapolis.
Instead, she was surprised with a pair of tickets to the Super Bowl, a perk that comes with being named the Colts’ 2023 Fan of the Year.
“I am so honored,” Johnson said. “I love this team. I love the community of Indy, and this is incredible to represent this great organization.”
While in Vegas, Maren will compete against 31 other fans, representing each of the teams in the league for NFL Fan of the Year.
Johnson said she’s looking forward to the trip.
“We get to experience being at the NFL Honors together as a group, and they’ll let us know, at NFL Honors, one of the 32 of us will be awarded the NFL fan of the year,” Johnson said.
Johnson said she fell in love with the Colts after going to her first game in the RCA Dome when Jim Harbaugh was the Colts quarterback.
“I just remember being in the dome, and the sights, the sounds,” she said. “I remember trying to catch T-shirts tossed to us by the cheerleaders, and just looking in awe, like a kid in a candy store. Ever since then, I was hooked.”
During the process of selecting the team’s Fan of the Year, the Colts also looked at how that fan carried themselves during the off-season.
Volunteering is another passion of Johnson’s.
“I got involved with a local organization that was a nonprofit called Champ Camp,” she said. “So, it’s for kids that require some type of medical and respiratory assistance, and I have just been so involved in that. It’s become something I can’t imagine my life without.”
Fans can vote online for Johnson to be NFL Fan of the Year.