End of an Era?

[KillaCamNewton]

I know we already have a Julius Peppers appreciation thread but I figured I’d start this one since I got some cool little stories to share. If this truly is the end of Peppers’s career, it’s also the end of an era for the “1st generation” Panthers fans like myself.

i turned 25 about a month ago. I didnt have a team before the Panthers like alot of posters here did. Jerry Richardson got awarded the franchise a few months before I was born and one of the first purchases my parents made as a married couple were Panthers PSL’s. My earliest childhood memories are of my dad taking me to what used to be called Ericsson Stadium every Sunday. 

I was also raised a UNC basketball fan. My grandfather lives in Chapel Hill and has had season tickets for decades. When I was in 1st grade he finally took me to my first game on February 10th, 2001. After the game we hung outside the Smith Center at some Rams club event where the players would sometimes come and sign autographs. Only one player came out and signed the back of my ticket and it was Julius Peppers. Somehow I still have the same ticket posted below.

A few years later I got the best gift of my childhood. My cousin worked as a nurse in Greensboro and apparently worked with Pep’s cousin too. Safe to say seeing this hat addressed to me and seeing it signed by him was probably the coolest thing my 10 year old self had ever seen.

 

Long story short, if this really is the end for our buddy Pep its sure been a hell of a ride. I became a fan as a 7 year old and to be 25 now and still be watching him play for my favorite team has been pretty crazy to think about. Even though i started to go to games as a child I really wasnt old enough to understand what was happening until I was about 8 and it was Julius’s rookie year. All my early Panthers memories as a kid involved him, whether it was the 12 sacks his rookie year, the interception to seal our playoff win against the Cowboys, making the Super Bowl, one of the most dominant seasons from a defensive end ever in 2004. Just puts into perspective how amazing his career has been and the crazy longevity it took to play such a physical sport at such a high level for almost 2 decades. Thanks for the memories Pep!

[LinvilleGorge]

Awesome thread.

Peppers is the reason I became a Panthers fan too. I'm older at 36, but before Peppers there was nothing to really draw me to the Panthers. I had casual interest as they were the "local" team, but growing up in western NC I couldn't have cared less about Charlotte to be honest (don't get offended, I've lived 45 minutes west of Denver for 12 years and feel the same way about Denver, I'm just don't have any use for large cities) so it wasn't like I did backflips when Charlotte got a team. I've always been a huge UNC fan, but back then I was more of a general NFL fan with favorite players moreso than a favorite team. When we drafted Peppers that was the push that I needed to go all in on the Panthers. Had we never drafted Peppers or if he had been a bust, I honestly doubt if I would've ever became a full fledged Panthers fan. I knew that I was when Peppers left to go to the Bears and my fandom never waivered. Now I'm tested again with Tepper sticking with this Hurney/Rivera dumpster fire.

[Carl Spackler]

Peppers getting drafted by the Panthers in 2002 definitely increased my daily interest in the team. I’ve gotten to meet a lot of Panther legends (Cam, Luke, TD, Jake, CJ, Beuerlein, Gross, 89, DeAngelo, Moose, Stewart, etc) but haven’t met Pep before. He answered a question of mine in a Q&A one time in 2002, that’s as close as I’ve gotten. Glad he came back to finish his career here.