This amazing story raises the bar for superfans everywhere
If you’re searching out the biggest Falcons fan as we near the team’s appearance in Super Bowl LI, no one’s entering that competition with a stronger case than Katie Levitre, the wife of Atlanta offensive lineman Mike Levitre. She was 39 weeks pregnant as she took her seat at the Georgia dome for the Falcons’ playoff matchup against the Seattle Seahawks.
Just shortly after kickoff, she went into labor, but knowing it wasn’t a full-fledged emergency, she opted to stick around for the entirety of the game and cheer her husband on.
Showing just how pregnant Katie was at the game, here’s a photo from Andy’s Instagram that shows the couple two months prior:
During the game, Andy remained unaware that his wife, just a few hundred feet away, was going into labor. He only learned once team staffers told him following the game.
Atlanta won the Seattle game and the subsequent Green Bay matchup in the NFC Championship. Following the the recent win, which put the Falcons in the Super Bowl, Atlanta coach Dan Quinn belatedly gave Katie a game ball for her dedication.
The coach said of her remarkable story, “We gave Andy Levitre’s wife a game ball because it was a week late, and we put ‘ultimate toughness’ on it. She had gone into labor during the game but waited it out. So we thought that was definitely worth the game ball”
It’s not the most flowery statement, but what would you expect from a football coach?
While the game ball from the team is a nice gift, it probably pales in comparison to the other gift Katie got to take home during the Falcons storybook playoff run:
Her the health little girl’s name is Lily Gene Levitre, and we’ve got a hunch which team she’ll grow up supporting.