‘Thank you, Pete’ – Seahawks fans crowdfund awesome, full-page Seattle Times ad

Another great tribute by Seahawks fans.

We’re still waiting for a new Seattle Seahawks head coach, but in the meantime fans are still finding very creative, if not costly ways to thank Pete Carroll for his 14 seasons in charge.

An idea hatched on Reddit, Seahawks fans banded together to crowdfund a full-page ad in the Seattle Times.

I don’t know how much this would cost, but I’m sure we can raise it here.

I’m picturing a photo of Pete at the Super Bowl parade, with the words “THANK YOU PETE! LOVE, THE 12s”

If people are interested, I’d be happy to organize!

Thoughts?

It costs a cool $7,000 for a full-page ad, and exactly have the money for a half-page. The good news it that interest swelled so considerably that the creator, Isaac Lilly, went for the $9,000 Sunday edition and still had enough GoFundMe donations left over for charity.

If you picked up the January 28 edition of the Times, voila! The fans supplied the text and the ad department dealt with the photo selection and the design.

FOX 13’s Alyssa Charlston caught up with Lilly and some donors on what went into the process.

“It feels like something someone would do, and I was like, ‘I haven’t seen it in The Times yet,’ so I just posted it there, not thinking anything of it,” said Isaac. “Checked back during my lunch break, and there’s hundreds of comments saying, ‘I’ll commit $12,’ ‘I’ll commit $50,’ so I was like, ‘Okay, guess I should call The Seattle Times.’”

Lilly felt that the dream was over when he found out the price, but the $7,000 goal was met in less than a day. Donations were made from over 500 Seahawks fans around the world, including from Thomas Congdon and Bryant Bartlett.

“I hadn’t even joined the military when Pete took over this team, and I’m out of the military now,” said Bartlett. “I think Pete is the best coach in Seattle sports history; I don’t really think it’s that close. Brought us our first Super Bowl, almost brought us another one. And we’re known as a winning organization because of him. Even more than that, it’s just who Pete is as a person.”

“With the rough spots in the last 14 years, there were weeks where that was the thing to look forward to, when there wasn’t a ton else going on for me. Seeing the Reddit community come together and everybody be able to celebrate the guy who’s been with us for 14 years, and for him, it’s been his life,” said Congdon. “I want him to know that we appreciate how much effort he’s put in.”

This is a wonderful story, and I hope Pete has a copy of the Sunday paper at home.