It’s 9:40 a.m. on Wednesday, the first day of the , and the Milton family is having a ball.
Blake, who’s 8 years old, is running around in circles so fast his bucket hat is flying off his head. His twin 3-year-old siblings, Benjamin and Brielle, are busy using markers and crayons to bring the coloring wall to life. Brooklyn, 5, runs up to a reporter and excitedly shouts the first thing that comes to her mind: “Where’s Bryce Young?!” she asks.
She’s pointed to the field. “I want to give him a hug!” Brittani Milton, the mother of the crew, can’t help but laugh. Brittani was born and raised in Charlotte, inculcated as a Carolina Panthers fan since the team’s inaugural season in 1995.
Brittani’s mother, Sharon — the grandmother of Blake and Brooklyn and Benjamin and Brielle — helped make that fandom happen. Sharon was out on the field, too, Wednesday morning, wearing , a relic only forever fans still have. “I remember meeting in the first grade when he came to my elementary school,” Brittani said.
“I was born and raised here, so my parents, they kept us busy. Whenever they had events in the community we would always try to be there.” And Wednesday was one of those community events the Milton family — and a reasonable crowd of Panthers fans — couldn’t miss.
The Panthers began their first Charlotte training camp in front of fans on Wednesday. Those fans — who secured enough free tickets to , per the team — either sat in one of two near Bank of America Stadium, or they milled around in the overcast and muggy but beautiful day while taking pictures and begging for autographs and extrapolating how much better their favorite team could be this season. This is the first year the team has done so since the inception of the Panthers.
For the team’s first 30 seasons, , the alma mater of founding owner Jerry Richardson. Ask everyone in the grandstands Wednesday, and they’re happy the Panthers are home. “I’m glad that they’ve brought this closer to home,” said David McCrimmon, a Charlotte resident and Fayetteville native and longtime Carolina Panthers fan.
“It’s almost like a reunion, a celebration. I think it’s pretty cool to have this right in your backyard and to see these guys practice.” McCrimmon, like so many out there, was hanging out with his elementary-school-aged son, Trey.
Trey, wearing the same Process Blue shirt that his father was. Wednesday was a gold mine for images like that — parents passing down their respective fandoms and traditions to their kids, a generational tale as old as time. “I was just telling him about ,” McCrimmon said, pointing to his young son.
He then laughed. “And he was like, ‘I don’t even know who that is!’ I’m trying to teach him.” There were plenty of people who didn’t need to be taught anything about Panthers lore out there, too.
Take Jermaine Foster, for example. The Gaffney, S.C.
, native — who wore a thick beard and a smile and carried an authentic Jadeveon Clowney USC jersey he got from Plato’s Closet — was 12 when the Panthers were established. He’s a die-hard Gamecocks fan, too, hence the jersey. “Oh man, it meant a lot,” he said when .
“He’s back at home. He with the Carolina Panthers now. He’s gonna help the team win some games this year.
He’s going to improve on the defensive side of the ball, and he’s gonna be very consistent.” Think you’ll get his attention to sign your jersey? “Hopefully I’ll get him,” Foster said. “There’s a lot of people out here.
” The first day of training camp was a first for everyone. It was a first for Xavier Legette, the rookie the Panthers invested so much into who gave himself a harsh assessment after Day 1. It was a first for quarterback Bryce Young in some ways, the second-year quarterback knowing what to expect, what to do, who he’s expected to be.
It was a first for all the fans here who saw the Panthers transform their practice fields overnight: “I can’t believe it,” Brittani Milton said. “That’s just the story of Charlotte. Things are always changing, and you were like, ‘Wait, what was here before?’ I’m still amazed every time I come Uptown.
” It was also , who walked onto a training camp field for the first time as a head coach on Wednesday, flanked by his family, trying to contain his emotions. “The part that made me a little anxious was that I can’t walk into this with 30 years of head coaching experience, as someone who’s seen everything,” Canales told reporters after practice. He said he received advice from Tony Dungy and Pete Carroll ahead of Wednesday’s practice: they said.
Canales said something similar when he addressed the crowd before practice began: “It’s all about the ball.” But anyone in attendance could tell it meant more to him. Because Wednesday meant a lot to them, too.
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