What makes a truly great sports fan? Passion, certainly. Longevity, sure. Team loyalty, because rooting for laundry beats worshipping players who may not be around next season (or next week). Team apparel? Absolutely. Merchandise and memorabilia? Pile it on. Skipping your cousin’s wedding for a playoff game? Totally understandable.
ESPN is soliciting nominees for its inaugural Hall of Fans class. Ten finalists will be chosen later this month and ESPN voters will induct three into a hall whose purpose is to “discover, elevate, and celebrate greatness in sports fandom.” This “hall,” unlike baseball’s in Cooperstown, N.Y., or basketball’s in Springfield, will essentially live as a website along with an exhibit at ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Conn.
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Boston fans, of course, take a back (unobstructed) seat to no one in compiling hall of fame resumes. Some featured here are superfans you may know of, some are not. Applaud them all. Heck, nominate one or two for next year’s ESPN class. Just don’t call any of them around game time, OK?
Lynne Smith, 67
Hometown: Wellesley
Favorite team: Red Sox
Favorite player(s): Every one of them, unequivocally
Games attended yearly: 60-plus, including road trips ( e.g. 2004 World Series in St. Louis, ’07 Series in Denver).
Game outfit: Customized jackets (World Series, Fenway Park 100th anniversary); Fenway hat with lit-up Citgo sign; uniform number of Sox starting pitcher in right earlobe.
TV sports viewing: Every Sox broadcast, most Celtics games
Ever miss a big family or personal event for a game: No, but when Smith’s nephew was married during an October playoff series, she found it “very annoying” to attend.
Stuff: Ted Williams autographed baseball; crystal-studded David Ortiz bat; framed Johnny Pesky baseball card; guitar signed by ’07 World Series championship team.
Fan’s notes: Smith has thrown out the first pitch at a Sox game; her daughter’s baby sitter was former Sox manager Ralph Houk’s daughter; her son held his bar mitzvah reception at Fenway’s 406 Club; and Smith herself once ran — unsuccessfully — for governor of Red Sox Nation. Mercy!
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Mike Schuster , 50
Hometown: Foxborough
Favorite team: Patriots
Favorite player(s): Tom Brady, Tedy Bruschi, Steve Grogan
Games attended yearly: All home games; has been to three Super Bowls, London road game.
Game outfit: Facepaint; foam hat; Super Bowl XXXVIII hat; 14-carat gold Pats pendant; game day jersey; American flag pants with Pats patches; Pats socks, sneakers, and shoelaces; shaved head painted to look like a Pats helmet.
TV sports viewing: Pats road games, Olympics
Ever miss a big family or personal event for a game: No. His family knows not to schedule anything important on game day.
Stuff: Schuster’s house is a virtual Pats shrine: ceiling fan with helmet/football motif, silver blades with Pats bumper stickers; football coffee table; bobblehead dolls; bobblefoot (Adam Vinatieri) doll; glasses, mugs, beer steins, Grogan-autographed chip ’n dip bowl.
Fan’s notes: Growing up in Foxborough, he attended the first Pats game played there, in 1971. A diehard fan, he’s suffered through fumble-prone stretches like 1989-93 and thus knows the true meaning of loyalty.
Mike Penta , 39
Hometown: Medford
Favorite team: Bruins
Favorite player(s): Bobby Orr, Marc Savard, Zdeno Chara
Games attended yearly: 35-40, plus occasional road games.
Game outfit: Bruins shirt, cowboy hat with Bruins pins; goalie mask, face paint.
TV sports viewing: Every Bruins game, many Sox, Celtics, and Patriots games
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Ever miss a big family or personal event for a game: Yes.
Stuff: Autographed sticks, pucks, jerseys; Bruins clock, glasses, action figures.
Fan’s notes: “Hockey is the type of sport that feeds off fans’ energy,” says Penta, one of many
hypervocal Gallery Gods seated in the Garden rafters for whom every Bruins game is “like a family reunion,” with forechecking.
Agnes Nobile , 60
Hometown: Winthrop
Favorite team: Celtics
Favorite player: Paul Pierce
Games attended yearly: All home games; occasional road trips (Philadelphia, Orlando, Miami).
Game outfit: Lime-green leather suit; rhinestone-studded Paul Pierce tank top; green Chanel earrings and handbag; Celtics bracelet; basketball-colored hair.
TV sports viewing: Celtics, Pats, Bruins, Sox
Ever miss a big family or personal event for a game : Yes.
Stuff: Autographed basketballs (one by Red Auerbach); photographs, banners, programs; Marty Conlon sneakers (signed); NBA Barbie doll with Celts jersey.
Fan’s notes: Nobile, who hands out “Celtics Queen” business cards at the Garden, acquired her season ticket through an ex-boyfriend. He’s history, but The Truth has prevailed. Her pregame ritual includes exchanging “No. 1” signs with Pierce and a thumbs-up with coach Doc Rivers.
Duncan Devlin , 30
Hometown: Malden
Favorite team: Bruins
Favorite player(s): Tim Thomas, Nathan Horton
Games attended yearly: 20-40
Game outfit: Bear hat; teddy bear named Timmy (has its own Facebook page).
TV sports viewing: All Bruins games; some Pats, Sox games.
Ever miss a big family or personal event for a game: No.
Stuff: Game-used sticks (Thomas, Mark Recchi, Michael Ryder); piece of 2011 Stanley Cup Game 7 hockey net; signed jerseys of various vintage.
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Fan’s notes: Devlin rollerblades around Boston in his Bruins regalia, which is cute, and has also bladed around Montreal and Vancouver, which is crazy. “You know the movie ‘Fever Pitch?’ ” he says. “My girlfriend calls [their life] ‘Fever Puck.’ I know it’s unhealthy, and I don’t care.”
Don Therrien , 63
Hometown:
Andover
Favorite team(s): Boston College football, hockey, and basketball
Favorite player(s): Doug Flutie, Matt Ryan, Luke Kuechly
Games attended yearly: All BC home games (three sports); 2-4 football road games.
Game outfit: BC cap, shirt, jacket
TV sports viewing: Daily (pro and college)
Ever miss a big family or personal event for a game: No, but Therrien once smuggled a TV into a friend’s wedding so he could watch a BC-Syracuse football game.
Stuff: Autographed Flutie football; BC banners, photos, rugs, bookends, hockey sticks, pucks; 500-600 ticket stubs. “I’ll buy anything and everything with BC on it.”
Fan’s notes: A ’70 BC grad, Therrien owns two cars with BC license plates and goes on Eagles road trips with his wife (BC ’69). A “second-class citizen” in a pro sports town, he cheers any fan who digs college sports. “There’s nothing quite like the electricity,” he says, “when you’re playing a Notre Dame in football or a Duke in basketball.”
Daylon Trotman , 10,
a.k.a. Little Soulja Boy
Hometown: Milton
Favorite team: Celtics
Favorite player(s): Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Garnett
Games attended yearly: 20-plus
Game outfit: Celtics jersey, Celtics cap, dancing shoes
TV sports viewing: Celtics games, plus Pats, Sox, Bruins, ESPN
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Ever miss a big family or personal event for a game: If invited to a friend’s birthday party on game day, he’ll go but leave early to make opening tip-off.
Stuff: Autographed 2008 championship basketball; signed pictures; framed Garnett jersey with a KG postgame quote about Trotman’s triple-double-level dancing (“...that kid really had it going on...”)
Fan’s notes: In 2008, Trotman became a Jumbotron phenomenon by busting out YouTube-worthy dance moves that landed him on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” When not playing travel basketball in Milton, he trains with the Phunk Phenomenon dance troupe.
Joseph P. Kahn can be reached at jkahn@globe.com