CHARLOTTE - Panthers fan Kyle Gamble has been named as the team's nominee for the 2021 NFL Fan of the Year contest.
The NFL launched the Fan of the Year contest to celebrate extraordinary fans who inspire others through their love of football and bring an "original spice" to what it means to be a fan. In collaboration with the 32 teams, the NFL collected nearly 35,000 submissions from fans vying for the chance to represent their team as a nominee. The contest will seek to identify one winner among the final 32 nominees to be named the ultimate NFL Fan of the Year at NFL Honors in February 2022.
"Kyle is the guy that won't leave the stadium until the game is completely over no matter the score. He's the one sending encouraging words from the 500 level, preparing a speech each week to deliver to his tailgate family. He always has faith in the Panthers, and even convinced me to put PSLs on our wedding registry in 2019, saying "he wanted to grow old at the Bank with me."
We may not have any matching dinnerware and we still use our college silverware, but we spent our first year of marriage supporting the Panthers from section 550 each home game. Seeing the way he lights up and cheers for them is priceless to me! The amount of passion and faith he has in that team is something most people don't put forth even in their day-to-day lives.
Each home game, Kyle prepares a speech for our tailgate family. These speeches have ranged from remaking "Remember the Titans" (Panthers vs. Titans) to "What Do Tigers Dream Of" (Panthers vs. Bengals), and "Ravens Poem" (Panthers vs Ravens). These are speeches that embody encouragement of the players and hype for the fans. Of course, he loves to win, but no matter what the record is, he treats every game like it's the most important game of the year and truly believes that the team needs fans to believe the way he believes."
