For the fifth year in a row, the Spurs' fan relations ranked No. 1 in all of sports in the Ultimate Standings (no wonder, then, that they sold out of season tickets -- 13,200 in all! -- this year, a first for the team). Michael C. Wright shares the story of Barbara Bowden, a longtime season-ticket holder who epitomizes the Spurs' fan base.
SAN ANTONIO -- From Seat 21 in the first row of Section 231, which overlooks the east baseline on the balcony level, Barbara Bowden has watched Spurs games since 1999, wearing a leather vest that features every lapel pin handed out by the team to season-ticket holders.
She's known around the AT&T Center as the "Spurs Mom" and regularly bakes fudge for the team's Silver Dancers, the mascot Coyote and other staffers (for a few years, before the team introduced stricter nutritional standards, Bowden even delivered fudge to the players). She has met Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili and has held one-on-one conversations with Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who one Christmas gave Bowden a signed bottle of wine from his own label: Rock & Hammer.
"It is a family atmosphere. I just love each and every one of them for the care that they give," Bowden says of the Spurs organization and her game-day experience. "We've gotten to know the people behind the snack bar. We know the guy on the door. We know the elevator operators. They're glad to see us. It's definitely a family."
Bowden proclaims her $1,320-per-year season-ticket investment to be "the best seat in the house." Upon entering the AT&T Center, Bowden needs to walk just four steps to reach her seat. "You go back up that four steps, and there's a snack bar right out there, a drinking fountain, a restroom. Very convenient."
In March, Bowden was recognized as season-ticket holder of the game, and now she has a new pendant on her vest: a diamond spur made by Americus Diamonds, the team's official jeweler, that she wears "proudly."
What draws Bowden closer is the culture of the organization and its family atmosphere.
"They're always gentlemen on that floor when the game is over. The camaraderie the team exudes is what people are trying to copy now. They do everything the right way," Bowden says. "They share, and they really care about one another. That's the whole Spurs deal: They are gentlemen, teammates, sportsmen. Good people.
"The season-ticket holder crew is also like that. They're always so accommodating, always glad to see you. Counting you as Spurs family, you get hugs from them when you come in. It's neat the way they care about serving us, and what they do to try and make our game experience a pleasure. And it is a pleasure."
Now undergoing her fourth and final chemotherapy treatment for lung cancer, Bowden says the organization has "taken me in like family" since her April diagnosis, adding: "I guarantee you when the Spurs open, I'm gonna be there -- hair or no hair. I'm sitting in 21."