“I remember the game, and BC probably will remember me,” said Saloman, now 91. “When I went home, I had a big wide plank stripe across my pants and all the way through to my bottom side. I contacted BC, and their insurance company reimbursed me for the slacks.”
The second, a streak of games, is still a source of pride 67 years later. Saloman, who grew up in Brookline and lives in Shrewsbury, has attended 400 of a possible 402 Boston College home games since the stadium opened.
The Eagles commemorated the milestone during Saturday’s game against Pittsburgh with a ceremony midway through the second quarter. Saloman, sporting a maroon BC jacket and hat, took the field with his family and enthusiastically hoisted his cane in the air to salute the crowd.
Forgive him for missing two games along the way. One, he was on his way home from Alaska and ended up coincidentally watching the game in a Seattle airport with actor Cuba Gooding Jr. The other was due to a family Bar Mitzvah.
Saloman did pull rank at his temple in 1973 to move his son Peter’s Bar Mitzvah to a bye week. It was going to take a lot more than that to deprive him of watching his beloved Eagles.
“He’s something else,” said his son, Larry Saloman. “Has been for a long time.”
Saloman made sure to have his quadruple bypass in the offseason in 2014 so he wouldn’t miss any games. Now, as he receives treatment for prostate cancer, Saloman deliberately does so in the middle of the week rather than on the weekend.
For the Salomans, Saturdays are sacred.
“It’s like praying at the pigskin altar,” Larry said.
Saloman’s passion began in the 1940s, when he watched the Boston Yanks of the National Football League compete at Fenway Park and witnessed the first-ever Celtics game in 1946. He attended Northeastern University and played freshman football — collecting “more splinters than snaps” as a backup quarterback — then graduated from Suffolk Law School and became a distinguished lawyer.
He admired the prominence of BC and latched onto the program as a way to see major college football close to home. Saloman — who had “BCFAN” as his license plate for many years — first bought tickets with his neighbors, but each member of the group has since passed.
“It seems to be what happens,” Saloman said. “I’m the survivor.”
Saloman has always loved bringing his family to games. Larry fondly recalls grabbing a Morrison & Schiff knockwurst on a bulky roll at Jack and Marion’s on Harvard Street before heading to Alumni as a kid.
The Salomans saw Tony Dorsett show promise as a freshman for Pittsburgh and Earl Campbell debut for Texas in back-to-back years in the 1970s. His favorite win ever is a triumph over Texas in 1976, when the Longhorns missed a pivotal field goal that allowed the Eagles to pull off the upset win.
In 1982, they watched freshman Bo Jackson’s Auburn team outlast Doug Flutie’s Eagles in the Tangerine Bowl.
Yes, he was at the Miracle in Miami in 1984, but not without a little adversity. Saloman tore up his knee on Thanksgiving, the day prior, while playing football with the kids in the yard. They hurried him to the hospital, put him on crutches, wrapped his knee, and stretched him out across three seats on the plane.
“I basically carried him to the hotel that night and carried him to the Orange Bowl the next day,” said Larry, who has been to 300-plus BC games himself.
Saloman savors BC wins over Navy, Army, Air Force, Notre Dame, Alabama, Clemson, Southern California, and many more. In addition to all the home games, Saloman has attended BC games in 20 other states. He’s been to 49 states overall, including Oklahoma this fall for a game, and is hoping to travel to Nebraska to complete the puzzle.
His favorite opposing fan base is Clemson. His least favorite is West Virginia. The most scenic spot so far has been Brigham Young University.
Saloman, also a longtime men’s basketball season ticket holder who served on the school’s estate planning council for three years, has met nearly all the football coaches and athletic directors.
He loves the camaraderie of the BC community and is incredibly grateful for the bonds he’s formed. Saloman has never been one to turn down an opportunity.
Two days after Peter was born, on Sept. 7, 1960, Saloman went to the hospital to check on his wife, Sybil, and newborn son, then hustled to Boston University to attend the Boston Patriots inaugural game at Nickerson Field.
“He’s just a huge sports fan,” Peter said. “He doesn’t let anything get in the way.”
Saloman carried the Olympic torch during the Salt Lake City games. He was the first person from Massachusetts to umpire the Little League World Series in Pennsylvania. Last year, he was a substitute kindergarten teacher in Marlborough.
“Those kids will never, ever have another 90-year-old substitute teacher,” Saloman said. “They wore me out by the end of the day. It was a long day.”
He’s currently the vice president of Audio Journal, a blind radio station in Worcester where he does a sports podcast every few weeks. Saloman recently welcomed Brooke Cooper, the vice president/general manager of the Worcester Red Sox, and would love to get BC football coach Bill O’Brien, lacrosse coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein, or athletics director Blake James on the show.
Most of all, Saloman simply loves being around the action. The seats, companions, stadium, coaches, and players have all changed over decades at Alumni Stadium, but Saloman has been a constant.
“I keep doing it,” Saloman said. “To me, it’s important.”
Trevor Hass can be reached at trevor.hass@globe.com.
