Keeler: What has Deion Sanders meant to CU Buffs? Ask this fan who’s returning to Folsom Field for first time in 20 years

BOULDER — Whoever said never meet your heroes never met Riley Rhoades. Lordy, they missed out.

“Been there for a long time,” the 72-year-old CU Buffs fan told me Tuesday, “and I’ve seen everything.”

One national championship. Two 1-10s. A Heisman Trophy winner. Heartache.

But Riley hasn’t seen anything like Deion Sanders. Ever.

“People (outside Colorado) don’t have a clue what he’s doing here,” Rhoades chuckled. “So I just kind of laugh at them, you know?”

Want to grasp the euphoria in BoCo? Ain’t hard to find. Start with section 213, row 60 at Folsom Field.

That’s where Rhoades sat through 27 years of sunsets over the Flatirons. 27 years of getting his hopes yanked the way Lucy Van Pelt yanked footballs from Charlie Brown. 27 years of keeping that black and gold faith burning like a sacred flame.

“It’s been quite a ride,” Rhoades said of CU’s 7-2 start and rise to 17th in the College Football Playoff rankings. “Oh yes, it’s over the top. It’s going to get moreso, I think.”

Especially for Rhoades. As cool as it’ll be to have FOX Sports’ “Big Noon Kickoff” studio show back on campus for the first time in 14 months, the cooler part of Buffs-vs.-Utah pregame Saturday will be on the sidelines. Beaming as the dawn breaks.

Folsom is welcoming an old friend home.

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As a resident at Good Samaritan Society Loveland Village, he also spent the last two-plus years talking Tammi Lehto’s ear off about his beloved Buffs.

They were chatting about a shared love of all things football when Riley mentioned he’d been a season-ticket holder at Folsom from 1977-2004. He added that he hadn’t been back since.

Lehto’s wheels started turning. A compatriot tipped her off to Jeremy Bloom — himself a former CU great — and his Wish of a Lifetime program. Wish of a Lifetime (WOL) is a charitable affiliate of AARP, a non-profit that grants life-changing wishes to older adults.

Bloom, like Colorado, brought sunshine to winter days. Because of WOL, a Florida woman went skydiving at the age of 92; a Maryland woman made her acting debut at age 87; and a 90-year-old Yankees fan threw out the first pitch before a game in the Bronx.

Lehto, a health care administrator at Good Samaritan, filled out one of WOL’s nomination forms, pitching for Rhoades to see CU in person once again.

“Riley has enriched my life greatly over the last two years I have known him,” she wrote.

In August, they found their wish was granted.

“It’s a lot. It’s a lot to me,” Rhoades said. “I never would have expected it at any time, you know? So it’s fantastic. Just to get there, to a game, and maybe meet Deion’s players — I could never have done that otherwise. So yeah, it’s great.”

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How devoted is Riley? His email address has “62-36” in it, for pity’s sake.

He grew up in Sterling as a Buffs lifer, through salt and earth, thick and thin, born into a family of Nebraska fans. Even after moving to Fort Collins in 1976, his love never wavered.

Nor did the routine: a little barbecue at Daddy Bruce’s before the game, then give the opposing team and the refs a taste of burnt ends from row 60.

CU 20, Cornhuskers 10 in 1986 still burns bright. He can still see Jeff Campbell scoring after that Mark Hatcher pitch. And CU 62, Nebraska 36 in 2001. Just because.

“Back in those days, they had a talk show on Wednesday nights, and I’d always listen to that,” Riley recalled. “People would ask them about this and that, and (Gary Barnett was) asked, ‘(Are) you going to have any special plays for that game?’ And (Barnett) said, ‘Hey diddle-diddle, we’re coming through the middle, and we’ll do that the whole game.’”

He saw Bloom blow past K-State’s secondary and Darian Hagan carve up Big Eight defenses like Thanksgiving turkeys.

He’s never seen anything like Coach Prime. Or Travis Hunter.

“By far, he is (the best),” Riley gushed. “There’s no excuse for him not to get the Heisman … nobody’s done anything like him.”

Like both of them, now that you mention it. The Buffs are sold out again. On the secondary market site SeatGeek, the lowest get-in price as of late Tuesday afternoon was $198 including fees in section 214, not far from Rhoades’ old spot.

Lowest SeatGreek price for Broncos-Falcons at Empower Field on Sunday? $116 with fees.

For the first time, consistently, since Riley gave up his season tickets 20 years ago, CU football truly is the hottest ticket in town.

Which is another reason why he laughs at the national pundits being so quick to link Deion Sanders with the Dallas Cowboys (3-6) or with Florida State (1-9), even though both could sure as heck use the help.

“He’s got a five-year contract,” Rhoades said of Coach Prime. “He’ll be there (in Boulder). It’ll be longer, too.

“I think he’s in there playing for the national championship with (CU). Hopefully, he gets one, you know, like (Bill) McCartney. But I think he’ll be there.