Man Visits Every D-1 Football Stadium

Frank Deford highlights him on Morning Edition:

On Nov. 13, 1954, young Dick Wessels, a high school sophomore, went to a football game at Purdue. Fifty-six years and 264 days later, on Aug. 4, 2011, Richard H. Wessels, a labor lawyer from Geneva, Ill., arrived at Bulldog Stadium, home field for Fresno State. He had done it. Wessels had visited the stadiums of all 121 Division I college football teams.
I mean, sports fans tend to like to collect stuff. I've heard of fans going to all major league parks. I've met people who spend their time going to sports halls of fame. Autographs, cards, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But 56 years and change to go to 121 stadiums, from Massachusetts to Hawaii –– this takes the cake.
"I'm a quester," Dick Wessels says. "I'm a leaf blowing in the wind."
Think of it. Places like Boise State, which The Quester visited on July 26 on what he calls "my last push," didn't exist as a four-year school when he began his pilgrimage. Usually, too, he must travel alone. His wife, he says, thinks he's a fine fellow but nuts in this one particular territory.
Nonetheless, if Wessels hits the highways and byways all by his lonesome, he finds plenty of company. Athletic directors, fascinated by his quest, often personally escort him around their stadiums. He's part owner of a minor-league baseball team, the Kane County Cougars, so, in season, he usually goes to a minor league game at night.
And, he also loves opera, so, on the pigskin path, he seeks that out, too. During his final climb to the college football summit –– Washington State, Idaho, Boise, Nevada-Reno, San Jose State, Fresno –– Wessels diverted to Denver and saw five operas. Yes, "Buckle Down, Winsocki" one day, "Un bel di" the next.

Now he says he might try to visit all the minor league baseball parks.  I could go for the college football and the minor league ballgames, but I think I'll pass on the opera.