If there’s one word that accurately describes Chicago Cubs fans, it’s loyal. Cubs fans stick with their team and keep their promises — just ask Wayne Williams. Williams knows all too well the love — and pain — felt by Cubs fans these past 108 years as they waited for another World Series championship.
Wayne, who lives in North Carolina, made a road trip this week — not to Cleveland, to try to score a ticket to the game, and not to Chicago to join the excitement of the crowds at Wrigleyville. No, this Cubs fan was driving to a cemetery in Indiana. He was driving to see his dad. He was honoring his promise to watch the Cubs win the World Series together — a promise made before his father passed away 36 years ago.
As Wayne told WTHR 13, his father likely became a Cubs fan when he joined the navy and went to boot camp near Chicago. He served his country in WWII, which ended in 1945 — the last time the Chicago Cubs were in the World Series. Wayne and his dad endured the heartbreak of 1969, the year the Cubs were in first place for weeks, only to end their season losing 17 of the final 25 games. And although his dad died before the agonizing 1984 playoffs, his son Wayne remembers that one too and says he’s not sure his dad’s heart would have been able to take that loss.
But his love for the Cubs would have never waned.
That’s the magic of this team. Carrying the burden of the longest championship drought in professional sports, they have trudged on. Fans have been there, every inning of every game. Cubs shirts speckle the stands in every park across the nation. The lyrics “Go Cubs Go” and “Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!” are passed down through generations who have been patiently waiting for this moment. After all, a wise man named Harry Carey once said, “Sure as God made green apples, someday the Chicago Cubs are going to be in the World Series.”
Wayne and his father had made a pact that when the Cubs finally made it to the championship, that they’d be together to watch them take home the trophy. And in true Cubs fan fashion, this son kept his promise. He told his family that he needed to make the trip to his father’s grave, to honor his word.
He brought along the coveted W flag, but knew not to fly until they had secured the win. Because even though the Cubs took an early lead last night with a first inning home run, followed by several RBIs, fans like Wayne Williams knew the reality of what could happen. Cubs fans across America held their breath, praying, hoping, reliving images of the last 100 years in their minds. It could all slip away so easily. And several times throughout the night, it almost did.
Almost.
In the bottom of the 10th inning, after a rain delay that prolonged one of the most exciting and emotionally taxing World Series games in history, third baseman Kris Bryant, a player young enough to be Wayne Williams’s grandson, threw the ball to Anthony Rizzo to make the final out.
After a 108-year wait, the Cubs had finally won.
This moment, celebrated with shouts and tears of joy in homes and bars across the nation, was a quiet one last night at Greenwood Forest Lawn Cemetery. But celebrated it was. Because Cubs fans never give up and never stop believing. Wayne and his father knew this day would come. And because a son kept his promise to his dad, they were able to enjoy it together.