A Patriots superfan known as the “Beadman” is getting ready to head to Houston. It’s a trip he did not think he would be taking until he walked into a bar in Salem, Massachusetts, on Monday night.
John West, of Peabody, is often seen at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro wearing the beads he got when the New England Patriots won Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans.
“They just became part of me,” West said. “It’s kind of tradition and superstitious, but I think they are good luck.”
He and his beads were almost not going to make it to Houston even though West’s friend had offered him a ticket to the big game. He was not sure he could afford the trip to get there.
“I really wasn’t sure. There was some financial stuff that had happened and I kind of almost had given up my dream,” West said.
On Monday night that dream became a reality when West’s friends decided to surprise him at O’Neill’s Irish Pub in Salem.
Through raffle items and donations, they raised $1,300 for West to get to Houston.
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“I threw an email thread together last week and it really wasn’t hard because so many people love him,” said West’s friend Ryan Dupont. “Nobody deserves to be there more than him.”
West will head to Texas early Thursday morning and said he does not plan to take his beads off the entire time he is there.
