Loveland resident Jim Weatherwax once plopped down enough money to pay for 100 Super Bowl tickets, but he didn’t have to back up a Brink’s truck.

If you want a ticket for Sunday’s Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, it will cost at least several thousand dollars. But Weatherwax’s ticket purchases came for Super Bowl I between the Green Bay Packers and the Chiefs on Jan. 15, 1967, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Weatherwax was then a defensive tackle for the Packers. He grew up in Los Angeles, so he had plenty of family members and friends who wanted to attend the game.

“We got about 100 tickets,’’ Weatherwax, 82, told The Denver Gazette. “I’ve still got some ticket stubs from the game. They were $8 seats.”

Weatherwax, who has lived in Colorado since 1999, is believed to be the only current resident in the state who played in Super Bowl I, a 35-10 win by the Packers. He also played in Super Bowl II in January 1968, a 33-14 Green Bay win over the Oakland Raiders.

One of Weatherwax’s teammates during the second Super Bowl season was backup quarterback Don Horn, who lives in Denver and played for the Broncos from 1971-72. Horn, a native of Los Angeles who had just completed his senior season at San Diego State, sat in the stands at Super Bowl I and two months later ended up being selected with No. 25 pick in the first round of the NFL draft by the Packers.

Told that Weatherwax’s tickets for the game had a face value of $8, Horn laughed and then told the story about how he ended up at Super Bowl I. He had received a call from Bobby Beathard, who was then a Chiefs scout and had helped coach Horn at Gardena High School.

“I had grown up in L.A. as a big Rams fan and I would go to games and maybe pay 50 cents or a dollar for a ticket,’’ said Horn, 79. “Bobby called me in late December or early January and said he had a couple of tickets for the Super Bowl and they were $12. I was like, ‘$12 to watch a football game. You’re out of your mind.”’

Horn eventually decided to buy the end-zone tickets from Beathard, who was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018 as an executive and died in 2023. He went to the game with a friend. After Horn joined the Packers, he spoke to future Hall of Fame guard Jerry Kramer about having bought $12 tickets.

“He said, ‘I got my tickets for $10. You got screwed,’’’ Horn said.

Face-value tickets ranged from $6 to $12 for Super Bowl I, which was known at the time as the AFL-NFL World Championship Game. But the game didn’t come close to selling out. The listed attendance was 61,946 at the venue, which then seated about 94,000.

Things sure have changed since then. Programs at Super Bowl I cost $1. Now they’re $20. A 30-second television commercial then cost $42,000 as opposed to $8 million now. Winning players in Super Bowl I got $8,600 apiece compared to $171,000 now.

“It’s crazy,’’ Weatherwax said of how far the Super Bowl has come. “It’s unbelievable.”

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Weatherwax was a Packers rookie out of California State-Los Angeles when they won Super Bowl I under legendary coach Vince Lombardi. He played on all special teams in the game and estimates he got in for 12 defensive snaps.

“I’ve got a lot of great memories,’’ Weatherwax said of the game, which came about when the NFL and the American Football League had agreed in 1966 to merge starting with the 1970 season. “It didn’t matter that the stands weren’t full. We were playing for the World Championship. Lombardi was under a lot of pressure from owners and coaches (in the NFL), saying, ‘We can’t lose to these guys. They’re not in our league.’ But everybody was focused going into the game and we knew we could beat them.”

There were several celebrities at Super Bowl I, including legendary actors Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda. Weatherwax said after the game he met a rising comedian.

“I had been down at the end of the bench with (defensive backs) Herb Adderley and Willie Wood,’’ Weatherwax said. “Herb comes walking up with a guy dressed in street clothes. Bill Cosby. Herb introduced him to us, and he was just clowning around.”

Weatherwax ended up playing 34 games for the Packers, starting just three, in an injury-riddled career. He didn’t get into any games in 1968 due to a knee injury that eventually forced him to retire before the 1970 season.

Weatherwax then went into the restaurant business, owning a Marie Callender’s franchise in the Los Angeles area. He moved to Colorado in 1999 to be closer to family members. His son, Jim Weatherwax Jr., had moved to the state in 1994.

The low-key Weatherwax doesn’t wear his two Super Bowl rings much and said he keeps it “pretty quiet” about his football history. Some of his neighbors don’t even know he played in the first two Super Bowls. But visitors sometimes find out about his career after visiting his home.

Weatherwax said his wife, Jo Ann, is a big collector and the family has several programs from Super Bowl 1. One is in a frame on the wall downstairs along with a ticket from the game and a playing card from Weatherwax’s career.

Also framed on the wall is Weatherwax’s No. 73 Packers jersey and a poster from Super Bowl I that has signatures of some participants. And there is frame with memorabilia from when Jo Ann was a baton girl for Rams games in the 1950s.

“(Visitors) will go downstairs and come back with a smile on their face,’’ Weatherwax said. “They want to talk about the Packers and Vince Lombardi.”

Weatherwax is happy to comply when asked.

“It’s quite a thing to have played in the first Super Bowl,’’ he said.

While Horn didn’t play in Super Bowl I, he was thrilled to have been there. He remembers some of the festivities surrounding the game, including at halftime the Bell Rocket Air Men flying into the sky with boosters on their backs and Al Hirt performing on trumpet.

“While there were only about 65,000 there and the Coliseum at that time held around 100,000, there was lot of exciting pre-game stuff and halftime stuff,’’ Horn said. “I was impressed with the rocket guys. They were cool. And everybody loved Al Hirt back in those days.”

Horn, being a fan of the NFL, rooted that afternoon for the Packers. But he had no idea when watching from the stands that he eventually would end up with them.

“I was at San Diego State in this little room,’’ Horn said of the draft getting underway on March 14, 1967. “The phone rings and a woman comes on and says, ‘Is this Don Horn?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ She said, ‘Please hold for Coach Lombardi.’ I thought somebody was jerking my chain and I almost hung up. Then I hear, ‘Don, this is Vince Lombardi and we’re thinking of making you our next draft choice. Would you mind playing for the Green Bay Packers?’’’

Horn enthusiastically said yes and minutes later the selection became official.

Horn played in the NFL from 1967-74, including 1967-70 with the Packers, starting just 15 career games. He was Denver’s primary starter in 1971, going 2-6-1 in that role during a 4-9-1 season.

Horn didn’t see any action in Super Bowl II in Miami. But watching from the sideline, he realized how far he had come.

“It’s a heck of a story that I’m sitting in the stands for Super Bowl I and then two months later I get a call from Vince Lombardi and then I’m on the field for Super Bowl II,’’ Horn said. “It’s a quite a thrill.”

Horn often wears his Super Bowl II ring, including when he was in New Orleans from Wednesday through Friday to attend a Gridirons Greats Assistance Fund event in advance of Sunday’s game. The organization, founded by Kramer, helps former NFL players in need.

Horn has attended about 20 Super Bowls over the years. When Kansas City and Philadelphia face off, he will watch on television in Denver and his mind will drift back to when he saw the Chiefs from the stands 58 years ago in the Super Bowl.

Weatherwax will watch Super Bowl LIX with family members in Loveland. And, yes, Super Bowl I figures to come up.

“We’ll be talking about memories,’’ he said.