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Ron Saloman, 91 (center) was recognized during a second quarter ceremony for attending his 400th BC home game (of a possible 402). Salomon’s streak spans nearly seven decades, all the way back to the first game at Alumni Stadium in 1957. Barry Chin/Globe Staff
When Boston College fanatic Ron Saloman attended the first-ever football game at Alumni Stadium in September 1957, he unknowingly left with one sequence and started another.
The first, a trace of paint, appeared when Saloman sat on a seat that had not completely dried and thus took home a piece of history.
“I remember the game, and British Columbia will probably remember me,” said Saloman, now 91. “When I got home I had a big, wide strip of boards down my pants and up to my butt. I contacted BC and their insurance company reimbursed me for the pants.
The second, a series of matches, is still a source of pride 67 years later. Saloman, who grew up in Brookline and lives in Shrewsbury, has attended 400 of Boston College’s possible 402 home games since the stadium opened.
The Eagles commemorated the event during Saturday’s game against Pittsburgh with a ceremony midway through the second quarter. Saloman, sporting a brown BC jacket and hat, entered the field with his family and enthusiastically raised his cane in the air to salute the crowd.
Forgive him for missing two games along the way. One, he was on his way home from Alaska and ended up watching the game at a Seattle airport with actor Cuba Gooding Jr. The other was due to a family Bar Mitzvah.
Saloman withdrew his temple rank in 1973 to move his son Peter’s Bar Mitzvah to a week off. It would take a lot more to deprive him of watching his beloved Eagles.
“It’s something else,” said his son, Larry Saloman. “It’s been a long time.”
Saloman made sure to have his quadruple bypass during the offseason in 2014 so he wouldn’t miss any games. Now, while receiving treatment for prostate cancer, Saloman deliberately does it midweek rather than on weekends.
For the Salomans, Saturdays are sacred.
“It’s like praying at a pigskin altar,” Larry said.
Saloman’s passion began in the 1940s, when he watched the National Football League’s Boston Yankees compete at Fenway Park and attended the Celtics’ first-ever game in 1946. He attended Northeastern University and played football as a freshman – collecting “more splashes than snaps” as a backup quarterback – then graduated from Suffolk Law School and became a prominent attorney.
He admired the importance of BC and latched on to the program to see major college football close to home. Saloman – who had “BCFAN” as his license plate for many years – initially bought tickets with his neighbors, but each member of the group has since died.
“It seems like that’s what’s happening,” Saloman said. “I am the survivor.”
Saloman always loved bringing his family to the games. Larry fondly remembers eating a Morrison & Schiff knockwurst on a big roll at Jack and Marion’s on Harvard Street before heading to Alumni as a kid.
The Salomans saw Tony Dorsett show promise as a rookie for Pittsburgh and Earl Campbell debut for Texas in back-to-back years in the 1970s. His favorite win was a triumph over Texas in 1976, when the Longhorns won missed a crucial field goal that gave the Eagles the surprise victory.
In 1982, they watched freshman Bo Jackson’s Auburn team outlast Doug Flutie’s Eagles in the Tangerine Bowl.
Yes, he was at the Miracle in Miami in 1984, but not without some adversity. Saloman tore his knee the day before Thanksgiving while playing soccer with the kids in the yard. They rushed him to the hospital, put him on crutches, wrapped his knee and laid him across three seats on the plane.
“I basically wore it to the hotel that night and wore it to the Orange Bowl the next day,” said Larry, who himself attended more than 300 games in BC.
Saloman relishes BC’s victories over Navy, Army, Air Force, Notre Dame, Alabama, Clemson, Southern California and many others. In addition to all the home games, Saloman has attended BC games in 20 other states. He’s traveled to 49 states in total, including Oklahoma, this fall for a game, and hopes to travel to Nebraska to complete the puzzle.
His favorite opposing fan base is Clemson. His least favorite is West Virginia. The most picturesque place so far is Brigham Young University.
Saloman, also a longtime season ticket holder for men’s basketball and who served on the school’s estate planning board for three years, has met with almost every football coach and athletic director.
He loves the camaraderie of the BC community and is incredibly grateful for the connections he has made. Saloman has never been one to turn down an opportunity.
Two days after Peter’s birth, on September 7, 1960, Saloman went to the hospital to see his wife, Sybil, and newborn son, then rushed to Boston University to attend the Boston Patriots’ inaugural game at Nickerson Field.
“He’s just a huge sports fan,” Peter said. “He doesn’t let anything get in his way.”
Saloman carried the Olympic flame during the Salt Lake City Games. He was the first person from Massachusetts to umpire the Little League World Series in Pennsylvania. Last year he was a substitute kindergarten teacher in Marlborough.
“These kids will never, ever have another 90-year-old substitute teacher,” Saloman said. “They wore me out by the end of the day. It was a long day.
He is currently vice president of Audio Journal, a radio station for the blind in Worcester where he broadcasts a sports podcast every few weeks. Saloman recently hosted Brooke Cooper, vice president/general manager of the Worcester Red Sox, and would like to have BC football coach Bill O’Brien, lacrosse coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein or director of sports Blake James on the show.
Above all, Saloman simply enjoys being in the heart of the action. The seats, the attendants, the stadium, the coaches and the players have all changed over the decades at Alumni Stadium, but Saloman is a constant.
“I still do it,” Saloman said. “For me, it’s important.”
