Streak Ends at Home

When the Cowboys take the field Saturday night in Edinburg, Texas, something will be missing.

Actually, that something will be someone. 

For nearly 50 seasons, Chris Buchanan has watched McNeese play football from stadium seats all over the country and in all types of weather. 

His streak of 565 straight games will end this weekend, however. For health reasons, he won’t be able to make the long trip to the Rio Grande Valley.

“It’s disappointing, sure, but I will still be watching,” said Buchanan. “I'm just not healthy enough to go. I’m going to miss it.”

The 71-year-old who grew up a Cowboys fan in Lake Charles remembers going to games as a boy with his father. Back then, McNeese played at Wildcat Stadium on the Lake Charles High campus before moving to their current home field on campus.

“My dad was a big football fan,” said Buchanan. “We would go to the LaGrange High and McNeese games.”

Buchanan attended Cowboy games while at McNeese and then traveled to home contests even after he moved to New Orleans. 

“I would just drive back to watch the games and then go home,” Buchanan said. “It’s how I spent my weekends in the fall.”

In 1977, he missed his last game, a road trip to Eastern Michigan, which the Cowboys won 14-10. The following week, on Sept. 14, he was back in the stands in Lake Charles as McNeese fell to Arkansas State, 14-7, and the streak began.

“I didn’t start thinking about any streak,” Buchanan said. “It just happened.”

Going to Cowboy games was a family thing. His mother would bring cookies on road trips for the players.

Since that game against ASU, the streak was never really in jeopardy, though a trip was delayed once for a special reason. During a trip to play at Northern Iowa, Buchanan’s connecting flight out of Minneapolis was delayed about 15 minutes while Air Force One was taking off.

That’s just one of the many unique stories Buchanan has from years of traveling with the Pokes. His favorite trip was the semifinal playoff win at Delaware in 1997.

“We went to Philadelphia the day before and saw the Liberty Bell,” said Buchanan. “That was a good trip. The fact that we rallied to win made it much better.”

When he was much younger, Buchanan ushered at home games, and he was doing so when Roger Staubach and the Navy Pensacola team came to town. He also joined with a few friends to raise money to paint and clean the stadium in 2002.

Despite becoming ill in August, Buchanan made all three home games this year, watching the opener from head coach Matt Viator’s office. He plans to play in all the remaining home games.

However, his long streak will end for Buchanan as he will watch Saturday’s game from his home with his son at his side.