Syracuse Football: Jimmy Garoppolo paid back Dino Babers at Super Bowl

Jimmy Garoppolo hooked up Syracuse football head coach Dino Babers at the Super Bowl. Here are all the details and some funny anecdotes.

On Wednesday afternoon Syracuse football head coach Dino Babers spoke with the media for the first time since the end of the 2019 season.

A lot of ground was covered during the near 20-minute presser, but the most fascinating storyline came at the end.

Dino Babers revealed that he attended Super Bowl 54 in support of his former Eastern Illinois and now San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

Early during media week, Garoppolo was asked about Babers and bluntly stated that he wouldn’t be in the Super Bowl “if it wasn’t for Dino.” Later in the week, Jimmy G put his money where his mouth was by hooking Dino up with Super Bowl tickets.

"“Jimmy had given coach Wittke, Sterlin and I fantastic seats at the Super Bowl. We were up really high but we were right smack on the 50-yard line. The coaches were telling me that it was like we were watching game tape because the view was so awesome.To watch that game the way it went for three quarters and to watch what happened in the fourth quarter it was kind of sad from a Jimmy standpoint. Although I have guys on both sides. I had two Bowling Green guys who were on the practice squad with the Kansas City Chiefs. We were well represented at the Super Bowl.”"

The Kansas City Chiefs would go on to win the Super Bowl 31-20, scoring 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to beat the 49ers.

This was the second Super Bowl that Dino Babers said that he ever attended. The other was back on January 31, 1988, in San Diego California at Jack Murphy Stadium.

The Denver Broncos were in their second straight Super Bowl, this time facing off against the Washington Redskins.

"“I was 10 rows up on the 15-yard line. The special teams’ coordinator from the University of Illinois Bob Ligashesky got tickets from his uncle who used to be a scout with the Pittsburgh Steelers. For a week I paid for all of his food and lodging and in return, I got a Super Bowl ticket out of it.John Elway walked down the field and scored the first touchdown of the game right there in that endzone. It was awesome we were in San Diego, great weather and then it turned into the highest scored Super Bowl all-time (at that time). Although every single touchdown after that was scored 85 yards in the other direction.I had the biggest crick in my neck I’ve ever had after the game. But I saw Doug Williams go into the game, leave, then come back and I think he went on to be Super Bowl MVP.”"

The Washington Redskins would go on to win 42 to 10 over the Denver Broncos and Babers’ memory was correct, Doug Williams was crowned Super Bowl MVP. Williams became the first African American quarterback to ever win a Super Bowl.