Wayne and Kay Dausey are bona fide Green Bay Packer fans. With plenty of green and yellow clothing and Packers memorabilia all over the house, there is no doubt about where the couple’s NFL loyalties lie.
“Our whole married life has been one big football game,” Kay said smiling, while hugging her husband.
But now, the pair have upgraded their fandom just a little more, by being named Green Bay Packers season ticket holders.
“We feel really good about it. It’s nice to not have to scramble for tickets anymore,” Wayne said.
The Packers have been sold out on their season tickets since 1960. Approximately 750 tickets change hands every year, according to a 2022 USA Today report. The wait list currently is over 130,000 names long, so it can take decades to work up to the front of the line.
The Dauseys were able to get on the list in 1977, and it’s taken 44 years to receive the personalized notification that they were now season ticket holders.
“It was just so exciting. Our whole family is excited,” Kay said. “We were concerned that we wouldn’t get it, so when the card came, we were taking photos and sending them to the kids.”
Featuring a gold foil print of Lambeau Field, the card had a small personalized inclusion of Wayne Dausey’s name and a warm invitation.
“We welcome you to join one of the most storied fan bases in all of professional sports,” the card read. “The wait is over.”
The Upper Peninsula has long been a battleground between Green Bay and Detroit fans. Even the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) can impact which teams get shown by Fox and CBS based on which market is considered “local”. The FCC puts the dividing line of Alger and Schoolcraft County included in the Marquette market while Mackinac and Luce Counties are attached to downstate Traverse City. Marquette typically shows the Packers while Traverse City goes with the Lions. This practice goes all the way back to when all broadcast cables to the Upper Peninsula came out of Green Bay. Cable transmissions to the U.P. from downstate wasn’t a possibility until the construction of the Mackinac Bridge.
But for the Dauseys, the connection to the Packers is built on family ties instead of technology. Dausey’s uncle was 1938 Green Bay Packers draft pick Pete Tinsley. The University of Georgia product played seven years on the offensive line for the Pack from 1938-1945 and was enshrined into the Packers Hall of Fame as a guard in 1977.
The Dauseys travelled down for Tinsley’s Hall of Fame induction dinner. That is when the couple first signed up for the season ticket waiting list.
“We’ll never have another family member installed in the Packer Hall of Fame,” Kay said. “The experience was just super, and we signed up for season tickets right away.”
While waiting, the Dauseys stayed diligent to Green Bay. Whether they would travel to Detroit for games against the Lions or finding tickets at Lambeau, the couple tried to make at least one game a year.
They brought their children up as Packer fans, and their youngest Jeff was part of a Green Bay program that celebrates active military members when he was in the Air Force. He received a ball signed by many of the players while serving in Germany around 2010.
With generations past, present and future having such memorable family ties to the Dauseys, the couple has every intention of keeping the tickets within the family as long as possible.
“We’re going to play it by ear, but we’ll deal with it when it comes up,” Wayne said. “Until then, we’re just going to enjoy some football.
