INDIANAPOLIS --- While others watch from around the world when the National Football League decides its champion tonight, among those witnessing it live from Lucas Oil Stadium will be a couple of fans whose unique trip to Super Bowl XLVI has taken them through New Hampshire.

Wayne Sargent grew up in Manchester and Bedford, graduating from Memorial High School in 1973 and working as a master plumber in the area until recession struck and he accepted a job in Wisconsin in 1992.

Two decades later, to say he's embedded in that community would be quite an understatement.

In a state where the Green Bay Packers are a birthright passion, Sargent has become “The Ultimate Packers Fan” — a title so official he owns its trademark and earned his visit to Indy because of it.

Back in September, Sargent entered an essay contest sponsored by the Guinness beer company, which asked entrants to make the case that they're the “boldest fans” in the United States. Almost five months later, he can't specifically remember what he wrote, though it was persuasive enough to earn him a prize package that included tickets and travel to tonight's game and a bronze bust of himself that will be unveiled today before being displayed in the NFL Hall of Fame in Ohio.

“I'm the Ultimate Packers Fan,” Sargent said Friday afternoon while standing in front O'Reilly's Irish Pub in downtown Indianapolis. He was wearing a Packers jersey with that phrase sprawled across the back. He also wore a 1996 championship ring, which the Packers delivered by beating the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI. But today, Sargent will be cheering for the team his family is rooting for in the Granite State.

Because he was impressed by quarterback Bart Starr, he was a Packers fan even when he lived in New England, but he's been following the Patriots since they played in Boston. Plus, he can't bring himself to support a Giants team that's now beat Green Bay in two of the past five NFC Championship games.

“Number 1 is that's my roots; that's where I'm from. Even though I'm the Ultimate Packer Fan, coming from New England, I was first a Patriots fan,” Sargent said. “But the most important thing is that the Giants have taken two Super Bowls away from us, in 2007 and now.”

Countering Sargent from elsewhere in the stadium tonight will be Jim O'Rourke Jr.

Now the John Stark varsity football coach and a lawyer in Henniker, he was raised in upstate New York as a lifelong Giants fan, so there's no doubt where his allegiances lie tonight. Especially since one of his closest friends is on staff as the Giants' receivers coach.

O'Rourke and Sean Ryan were fraternity brothers, roommates and defensive backs at Hamilton College — and though the latter changed when each of them blew out a knee, O'Rourke wanted to stay involved with football, so, as a college junior, he took a job coaching the JV team at the local high school.

The program needed to make another hire, too, so they asked him whether he knew anybody who might be interested. Ryan came to mind, and knowing he'd been a good high school quarterback, O'Rourke invited his buddy on board to handle the offense.

Twenty-two years later, he's coaching the wideouts some say will be the difference makers in the Super Bowl.

“I like to say,” O'Rourke said, laughing. “I got him his first job in football.”

After tonight's game, it's back to New Hampshire for O'Rourke, where he'll continue trying to build the Stark football program with a bit of help from Ryan, who drew up a couple of plays for the Generals on a restaurant napkin last year and whose example embodies the culture O'Rourke is trying to create.

“Surround yourself with winners,” O'Rourke said, “and just keep at it.”

Dave D'Onofrio covers the Patriots for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. His email address is ddonof13@gmail.com.

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