Do you remember Ronnie Andrews? He's the 15-year-old San Francisco 49ers fan who daringly walked the parade to celebrate the Seattle Seahawk's Super Bowl XLVIII championship in 2014. He stood out among the more than 700,000 Seahawks fans because he was dressed from head to toe in 49ers gear.
Catherine Tate, a 49ers fan who is the co-founder of the Ladies of the Empire, set up a campaign to get Andrews to a game at Levi's Stadium during the inaugural season. At the time, Andrews was living in homeless shelters. Tate offered her 50-yard line seats to the young man while the GoFundMe campaign paid for airfare, lodging, and other necessities for his trip.
It has been nearly four years since Andrews went viral. He is 19 years old now. On Wednesday, Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area shared his story in Andrews' own words via an Instagram post.
Below is what Andrews had to say.
"I got discovered when I went to the Seattle Seahawks' Super Bowl parade in February of 2014. I was wearing all 49ers clothing. I really wasn't recognized at first, but then as I got deeper into Seattle, people started taking pictures. I walked through the parade later on that night, and it was cool. I just thought everything was normal, but then I had random Seahawks fans telling me that I was famous. When I got home, I finally looked online and saw I got blown up on Facebook. At the time I was 15 years old. Everybody saw who I was. I was called 'Niner Waldo.' I was in a homeless shelter at that time, just trying to live and do my thing, go to school and get good grades. I was born in Reno and was raised in Seattle. My parents were 49ers fans. I always grew up liking the Niners, so it runs in the family. With all the Seahawks fans, it made it easier for me to be a 49ers fan in Seattle. I grew into a big Faithful. I was in homeless shelters from the time I was 14. My dad and I didn't have a good relationship. . . abusive, all of that stuff. My mom, we didn't have a relationship, in general. I really didn't have much family, so I left on my own and have been on my own since then. At that time, when 49ers fans started to see who I was, and when they heard my story, they started to recognize what I was going through. I had many, many 49ers and Seahawks fans – all teams, pretty much – help me. My friend Jason (49ers season-ticket holder) was the first one to come into my life and really change it and help make sure that I was going to be stable. All the Niners fans have supported me as much as they could. I'm still in Seattle. Now, I'm into aerospace engineering. I'm trying to go to college and start a career."