Seahawks share their Super Bowl memories from growing up

RENTON, Wash. – Sometimes the memories are vivid. Sometimes they’re just flashes or vague images.

But everyone has some recollection and impression of what Super Bowl Sunday means, whether it was a significant gathering always circled on the calendar or just another Sunday in the early part of February.

Only three players on the Seattle Seahawks’ 53-man roster going into Super Bowl have played in the championship game before: wide receiver Cooper Kupp, linebacker Ernest Jones IV and cornerback Josh Jobe.

It left a locker room of players who only know the Super Bowl from what they’ve seen from afar or heard from others. The game they watched and dreamed about playing in as kids without the reality of what it’s actually like to participate in the single-biggest event in American sports.

So we went around last week and asked a simple question of some of the Seahawks who will be on the field Sunday against the Patriots: “What did the Super Bowl mean to you as a kid?”

We’ll let the players’ voices answer the question.

Outside linebacker/edge rusher Derick Hall

“It was everything. We would always have people over to the house. We would sit back, order some pizza, wings. Mom would cook a few things, and we would just have a big Super Bowl party. And this was every single year. Every single year. I mean, every single year. So to have an idea to know that somebody’s probably doing that to watch us play, man, and our whole world has their eyes on us – and we’re not going to make this game bigger than any other game – but just having this opportunity it’s a blessing.”

And the best thing Hall’s mom made: “She made these buffalo (chicken) tenders, every year. She would dip them in buffalo and then she had the ranch and blue cheese. That was it.”

Punter Michael Dickson

Dickson grew up in Australia where the Super Bowl was … an afterthought?

“Didn’t really know anything about it. Nothing. Growing up as a kid, nothing.”

And when did he finally realize and understand the phenomenon of the Super Bowl?

“When I played at Texas, that was the first Super Bowl I watched was 2016 – Carolina versus the Broncos. Just hung out with some teammates, watched the game. Haven’t really built a culture around watching it and since being in the league, it’s always kind of pissed me off we’re not there, so kind of bittersweet watching it. I watch it with my family and stuff. I don’t turn it into anything too big.”

Left tackle Charles Cross

Cross is from the town of Laurel, Mississippi, population around 17,000.

“It’s huge this opportunity that I’ve been wanting to pursue my entire life. So to have this opportunity to play in the Super Bowl and also be from a small town is a huge moment for me, because I’m not just representing myself and this team, but also where I’m from.”

Receiver Rashid Shaheed

“Super Bowl Sunday was always a holiday in the household. We’d make food, chill with the (family). Have a bunch of people over and just enjoy the day. I was always a big Rotel dip guy. Taco meat and the cheese and all the toppings and chips.”

Center Jalen Sundell

Like Cross, Sundell is from a small town. Sundell grew up in Maryville, Missouri, a town of about 11,000 roughly 100 miles north of Kansas City.

“I’d say the majority of football players are usually from bigger cities, and there’s better competition so that kind of makes sense. Showing other young men out there that you can do it from anywhere is pretty cool.”

And how does it feel to be in the game now versus when he was a kid?

“It was the biggest thing in sports in my opinion. Now you get into it, it feels like another game. Obviously there’s more to it than that, but that’s what we’re trying to keep it at.”

Offensive tackle Josh Jones

Jones didn’t start playing football until he was in high school when his high-school coach – former Denver linebacker Allen Aldridge, who won a Super Bowl in 1997 – convinced the basketball-focused Jones to give football a try.

“Especially as a kid I was probably out just playing basketball. I wasn’t too much into football, but it kind of chose me. I started playing football for one year and ended up with like 20 offers. So I was like, ‘Maybe I should think about this thing here.’ I think that was God telling me this is my path and since then it’s been my life.”

Tackle Byron Murphy II

“The Super Bowl, to me, that was the best thing in the world to me as a kid. Why? Everybody don’t get to experience that. As a kid, you see it on TV, it’s the biggest – I mean it’s a dream come true to play in that game. It’s something that especially as a kid and a kid that wanted to make it to the league, and it’s something that you dream about your whole life. To be in this position, to be in this moment right now, it’s a blessing.”

Linebacker Patrick O’Connell

The first Super Bowl the native of Kalispell remembered as a kid featured the team he now plays for.

“The first Super Bowl that the Seahawks were in when they played the Steelers, unfortunately when they lost, I remember that game. I grew up a Seahawks fans so obviously that was tragic. That’s one of the first ones I actually remember watching. I remember specifically carrying some food downstairs for my mom and actually dropped some down the stairs. It’s a funny memory, but that’s what I remember of it.”

O’Connell didn’t recall what food he dropped on the stairs.

Center Olu Oluwatimi

“Probably when I hit high school, that’s probably when I really cared about watching the Super Bowl. Growing up, I didn’t really watch much football, but high school, I’ll say that’s when I started really enjoying watching it – my mom, my dad, and my siblings, yeah, around when I was in high school. Growing up, we didn’t really care. We were more of a basketball family.”

Safety Ty Okada

“I don’t know necessarily what it meant to me, but more so, I think every kid who grows up playing football dreams of having the opportunity to play in it, and so to have that opportunity is fantastic. And just being able to see the best players on the best teams come together and be able to play against each other and determine who’s the best in the world is such an incredible feat and opportunity.”