When the 2023 Caldwell County football season kicks off this August, a familiar face in the crowd will be missing.
Tiger ‘Super Fan’ Philip Phelps died early Monday morning.
The family noted his passing on social media.
Phelps was a former owner of the Druther’s Restaurants in Princeton and Marion.
He was a huge supporter of all local athletes, but Philip and his wife Pam are perhaps most well known for their incredible loyalty to the Tiger football team.
At the homecoming game last year, Phelps talked to Your News Edge about his love for Caldwell County football.
click to download audioWith Caldwell’s playoff loss to McLean County in November, the Phelpses had attended 423 straight Tiger football games.
That streak dates back some 37 years.
The Phelpses elected to skip the Tigers’ last game of the 1985 season — Caldwell’s 15-7 upset win at Mayfield in Al Giordano’s last game as head coach — to watch Crittenden County and head coach Pat Gates that night.
But the couple didn’t just follow football. It was common to see them at the CAB gym, at baseball and softball games, and even at middle school and youth events.
Philip Phelps was inducted into the Caldwell County Football Hall of Fame in 2010.
