Seahawks fan looks for stolen, autographed 12th Man Flag
Aug 21, 2013, 4:17 PM | Updated: Aug 22, 2013, 2:37 am
(John Lacross photo)
John Lacross is the kind of 12th Man fan the Seahawks love.
He has a Volkswagen Beetle custom painted in Seahawks colors. He goes to their games, screams for the team, and believes they’re going to win big this year.
“Super Bowl champions all the way. New York City, next February,” he says.
Lacross has the kind of 12th Man flag a thief would love.
“I’ve got tons of autographs on. I know Pete Carroll signed it twice. He went to sign it during the game and realized ‘Hey, I already signed this,'” says Lacross.
The three-foot by five-foot flag also has signatures from Walter Jones, Marcus Trufant, Leonard Weaver, Kam Chancellor, Earl Thomas, Kelly Jennings, and Steve Raible too.
Blair Bush, the former Seahawk who raised the 12th Man flag before last Saturday’s preseason game against the Broncos, also autographed it.
It’s so special to Lacross, he takes it with him on vacations and poses in front of landmarks so he can “represent” Seattle Seahawks pride wherever he goes.
The flag has been to Texas, San Diego, and other cities around the U.S. He’s even posed with it in Japan in front of a 40-foot-tall statue of the Great Buddha of Kamakura.
Now all he has are photos and memories of his favorite blue flag with the large white number 12.
It’s gone.
Someone swiped it after Saturday’s victory over the Broncos.
“After the game I was proudly wearing it around my shoulders, kind of like a scarf, and me and my friend went to a store across the street – not the Pro Shop, it’s one of the smaller ones. I set it down on the rack to try on a jacket,” he says.
“Next thing you know I take off the jacket and the flag was missing. Somebody had just basically snatched it.”
Lacross and his friend didn’t see the person who stole it.
“We were looking around the store for about 30 minutes and the workers were keeping an eye out for it,” he says. “We looked around outside and couldn’t find it.”
He then hopped a ferry for a sad ride home to Port Orchard.
Lacross has since filed a police report and is hoping surveillance cameras in the store, or around the area, might have picked something up.
“I’ve been calling memorabilia shops, no word yet. I’ve been checking eBay and Craigslist,” he says.
“Everything will be forgiven if it just returns. I won’t press any charges. I just want it back. That’s all.”
By LINDA THOMAS