A 97-Year-Old Pearl Harbor Vet Saw Cubs Lose World Series In 1945; He's Going Back
By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 25, 2016 5:08PM
Photo: Tyler LaRiviere
The Chicago media has an inordinate amount of Cubs-fan human-interest stories at our disposal. The primary reason, of course, is the Cubs’ statistically improbable habit of not winning championships means there are a lot of advanced-age diehards out there still waiting for a taste of the title. That said, the city of Chicago seems to have found their favorite.
Meet Everrit “Jim” Schelgle.
If you had to lab-assemble the perfect fan to witness the Cubs’ return to the Fall Classic, it’d look a lot like Jim’s bio: a 97-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor and lifelong Cubs fan who was in attendance for Games Six and Seven of the Cub’s ultimately ill-fated previous World Series appearance, in 1945. He’s been hoping for a return visit lo these 71 years.
“I don’t give a damn where it’s at, as long as they win,” Jim told ABC7.
A GoFundMe campaign, created on Sunday by his granddaughter, Helen Schelgle, to raise funds for a World Series ticket for Jim has gone full paleta-vendor viral, reaching more than $8,000 of its $10,000 goal as of Tuesday morning.
“All he talks about is Pearl Harbor and the Cubs; that is his life,” Helen told ABC.
But it looks like all the attention has solved Jim’s problem early. Marcus Lemonis, star of CNBC business reality show The Profit, heard about Jim and jumped in on Tuesday morning. Move over, Pink Hat Guy.
This man is so deserving. We've connected and he's going with my two tix first row Friday. Enjoy Jim, bring us a win!!! @Cubs @fox32news https://t.co/C3LxCu5V0w
— Marcus Lemonis (@marcuslemonis) October 25, 2016
No word just yet on where the funds will go now that Jim was gifted a ticket. (A previous update on the GoFundMe page stated that "extra proceeds will be donated to the Purple Heart Foundation to help wounded vets.") But right now we're just glad it worked out for Mr. Schelgle. Don't you just love happy endings, Cubs fans?