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 Ba.