For someone who is known to do the same thing every Saturday, Madelyn Elder’s bucket list is getting pretty short.

She has seen the Great Wall of China, rode a camel in Cairo and got baptized in Jerusalem. She’s visited 49 states, nine European countries, Russia and Australia.

To celebrate her 93rd birthday last February, she jumped out of an airplane in Arizona at 13,000 feet.

“That’s kind of how she lived she life,” said Madelyn’s nephew, Kim Elder. “She always liked to try new things.”

But her favorite trips are the ones she makes from Scottsbluff to Lincoln on Saturdays. She’s been coming to games every year since the early 40s – oftentimes catching every game for a season.

“If I did miss a game, then I don’t remember it,” Madelyn said.

Kim said he’s never seen his aunt criticize the Cornhuskers. No matter what happens on the field.

“You gotta stick with ‘em, you can’t just be with ’em when they’re good,” Madelyn said of the Huskers. “That’s not being a fan, that’s just being a follower.”

Madelyn first got hooked on the Huskers when she saw her brother, Marvin Thompson, play for the NU in the 1941 Rose Bowl. That game is still the “crowning point” of her Husker memories, she said. But she still drives, sometimes by herself, to every home game.

“I know we’re going to be better this year,” Madelyn said. “The attitude is so much better this year.”

As deeply as she loves the Husker football though, baseball brought out her love for sports. When she was growing up in Mitchell her father had a blind relative who lived with her family and Madelyn remembers spending hours sitting on his lap listening to Cardinal games on the radio. She roots for the Lakers too.

“I’ve been with sports all my life,” she said. “Don’t know any better I suppose.”

A lot's changed in the sports world since Madelyn started following her favorite teams ever so closely. Stadiums are bigger, the games can be watched from all over the country and athletes at all levels are compensated for their abilities much better. Madelyn remembers her father volunteering to drive Husker players to away games.

But not much has changed for Madelyn. She was getting ready to watch the Cardinals game on Tuesday night as she talked about her favorite Husker moments from her home in Scottsbluff.

“Most of my house is red,” she said. “I wear red, I think red… I like the ‘Ol Huskers, They’ve been good to me.”

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