Nobody can claim to have loved the Vikings longer than Donna Bailey has. Donna attended the very first Vikings game ever, a preseason contest against the Dallas Cowboys at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on August 5, 1961. A young teenager at the time, Donna can’t recall specifics about the 38-13 blowout loss, but she walked close to the sidelines and says, "I remember how big the players were."

Donna developed a passion for the Vikings that day she has never lost. "Before then, I liked the Baltimore Colts. But after that game, I was hooked." Bailey began regularly attending Vikings games in the mid-1960s. "I went with my parents back then, and we wrapped ourselves in garbage bags to keep warm," she says. Donna retains happy memories of the Met, but actually prefers the Metrodome. She doesn’t like the freezing temperatures, "and when the people start screaming and yelling, it really gets exciting."

Donna Bailey came to her love of sports through participation. "I was a pretty good shortstop in baseball, I tell you," she says. She follows the Twins and other sports, but her main love remains the Vikings. A naturally cheerful woman, Bailey sounds almost giddy when discussing her favorite team.

In the late 1980s, Donna started booking her Vikings games through Jack Rabbit bus lines. Jack Rabbit in Sioux Falls owns perhaps the largest block of season tickets. (When reached to verify just how many tickets Jack Rabbit owns, the Vikings’ Director of Sales and Hospitality, Phil Huebner, could not cite specific numbers but did say, "It was a whole lot.") "The bus is the only way to go," says Bailey. Jack Rabbit drives around 200 fans to every Vikings game. Bailey rode with them for every home contest for over a decade preceding the 1998 season. Then in that season, Bailey won Jack Rabbit’s "Viking Fan of the Year" because she wore her Helga Hat all day, all weekend, and all season. "It wasn’t very difficult for me," she says, because "I slept in the thing."

Now days, family and job commitments force Bailey to pick and choose which Vikings games she attends. She makes it up at least once or twice every season and remains friends with people who sit in her section. "One guy in our section drives in from Chicago for every home game. Those people arranged to tour the dome one day and I went with them. When my friends heard I was going down on the field they all said, ‘be sure to get your picture on the field, be sure to get your picture on the field.’ So, when I got there I laid down in the end zone and had someone take my picture standing over me. I got my picture taken ‘on the field.’"

When she comes to Minneapolis, Bailey stays at the Hilton where the team resides the night before games. In this way she’s met many Vikings players, and singled out Robert Smith as being "very nice."

Her favorite player without doubt, however, is Cris Carter. CC always went out of his way to interact with fans, and the star receiver knew Donna came in with a large group from Sioux Falls. He welcomed Donna and her South Dakota friends before the games with smiles, waves, or even handshakes. Like many fans, Bailey devoted one room in her house to the Vikings, although she says it looks a lot like a shrine to Carter. The room holds Carter posters, #80 jerseys, pictures, headlines, bobbleheads, and other knickknacks. She hasn’t forgotten the other players, it’s just she believes in Carter as a man worthy of her admiration both on field and off.

One of her most prized possessions is a signed copy of Carter’s book "Born to Believe." When the book came out, Bailey called around but couldn’t find a copy. "So I called Viking Update and they gave me Carter’s agent’s name and number in Florida. He said CC would be in the Mall of America signing copies and asked if she’d like one." They offered to send her a personalized book, but instead Donna woke at 4:00 a.m. the day of the signing and drove to the mall to meet Carter.

Whether waking up early, or staying with the team through four unsuccessful Super Bowls, Donna understands devotion to the purple comes at a price. "They figure out a different way to rip your heart out every year, but you gotta love ‘em," she says. Then, taking pride in her loyalty, Donna says: "For me, it’s a personal thing. I loved them from day one."