BY PRUDENCE SIEBERT Fort Leavenworth Lamp Editor

Bitterly cold Christmastime game leads to superfan’s game-day persona

When 13-year-old Madison (Maddie) Fuller, daughter of retired Command Sgt. Maj. Mike and Katrin Fuller, asked for ski goggles after the bitterly cold 2022 Christmastime Kansas City Chiefs game, she didn’t realize she’d be an internationally recognized superfan known as KC Chiefs Goggle Girl a year later.

“The game after Christmas, I was really cold and my face was freezing, so I was looking at goggles because I saw one or two people wearing goggles and it looked like it was warm, so I was like ‘Dad, I think I want some goggles for the next game, it’s supposed to be cold,’” Maddie recalled.

After her father’s initial reluctance and Maddie’s persistence, she got a pair of goggles.

“It was warm and comfortable, and I got pictures taken, too, so it started the whole Goggle Girl thing,” Maddie said.

Mike, who grew up in Cassville, said her reflective goggles really got the attention of photographers.

“She wore (the goggles) to the … AFC Championship, and the videographers and photographers came in and took pictures,” Mike said. “The 13th episode (of “The Franchise” videos)… that was really what started it all. From that point on, she was the Goggle Girl. It is kind of a self-proclaimed name, but a lot of other people call her the Goggle Girl, too.”

Maddie was recognized recently in Germany when she and her father attended the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Miami Dolphins game there in November. Mike said he heard an approaching German fan yelling “German Girl!” — referencing that Maddie sometimes holds up a sign at games proclaiming that she was born in Germany but her heart is in Kansas City. Images of Goggle Girl even popped up in a German commercial and football newsletter.

Maddie has also been recognized by other superfans, and Goggle Girl has appeared in numerous nationally televised video clips and in sports pho- tographers’ images.

Maddie said she doesn’t think most of her classmates know she is Goggle Girl, unless they’ve seen her on television, such as when Chiefs President Mark Donovan was announcing the preseason games and referenced how family friendly they were, with a clip of Maddie as Goggle Girl to illustrate.

Becoming a fan

Maddie’s first NFL game was with her family in 2016 when Mike said tickets were cheaper because the Chiefs weren’t playing as well as they have in recent years.

“Initially she liked the excitement and everything, but she didn’t really know a lot about football. But now she knows players, she knows penalties, she knows the difference between offense and defense, she knows what position the players play — it’s pretty neat to have a buddy to go with you who knows all that stuff.”

Now the shy, soft-spoken eighth-grader turns into a loud, screaming fan when she dons her goggles and number 22 jersey — for her favorite player Trent McDuffie — with “Gogglegirl” on the back.

“She’s the loudest one, a really high-pitched scream,” Katrin said of Maddie’s transformation on game days, noting that her daughter usually doesn’t have a voice the next day.

Mike said Maddie sometimes gets more excited about games than he does.

“When we go to games, there is a switch that is flipped. She is not the shy Madison, she’s the big Chiefs fan,” he said. “She gets excited, she yells for the players, gets their attention, and they’ll come up to her and talk to her and she’ll talk to them.”

Playing favorites

Maddie said she met McDuffie as a rookie, and that he has been friendly and downto- earth, even signing several pieces of memorabilia, whenever she has seen him since. Her parents tease her that he’s “easy on her eyes with his cute smile,” but they are also quick to credit McDuffie with great sportsmanship and excelling as a cornerback.

Mike said his favorite Chiefs player is tight end Travis Kelce.

“Obviously he’s the best in the league, but I just like him — he’s a great player, he doesn’t let it go to his head too much. I think if you look at most of our players, if not all, they are very humble,” Mike said.

Both Katrin and Mike said they have observed the Chiefs players, especially Kelce, to always be appreciative of fans at training camp and other signing events.

Kelce hand-delivered his gloves to Maddie after a recent game. Maddie was holding a sign with Kelce’s face on one side and a fan equation linking Kelce with Taylor Swift on the other.

“So, Maddie was down on the front edge, and Taylor Swift was up in the suite behind her, but Taylor Swift could see the sign, and she got her quite a bit of attention that day, obviously, because Travis Kelce walked up to (Maddie) and handed her his gloves,” Mike said.

Mahomes who?

Maddie got some of her first Chiefs’ autographs at a 2018 event at the Fort Leavenworth Post Exchange, when she had just turned 8 years old and rookie quarterback Patrick Mahomes wasn’t yet a household name. Since then she and her family have amassed an impressive collection of memorabilia, which Mike said they aren’t interested in selling, that it is for Maddie and the experience.

“We took Maddie out of school early for the Chiefs signing on post (in 2018) to be toward the front of the line,” Katrin said. “She met Patrick Mahomes before he was so well known. He said ‘Hi, sweetie,’ and signed her football.”

Recently Maddie acquired another piece of Mahomes memorabilia. She was participating in a helmet walk, when children are selected to walk with the players from training camp practice to the locker room.

“I asked him for his headband, and he said ‘You want this thing?’ and it was all sweaty and dripping in sweat, and I was like ‘yeah!’ and I grabbed it with my hand … and my dad said ‘That’s really gross,’ so I picked it up by my pinkie and was like, ‘That is a little gross, but it’s OK,’” Maddie recounted, prohibiting her mom from washing the headband, which is now displayed with other Chiefs memorabilia in the Fullers’ Chiefs-themed basement game room, aka the “Fam (Family) Cave.”

Devoted to the Chiefs

Mike and Maddie never miss filling their season ticket seats, no matter how terrible the weather. Katrin prefers football when the weather is nice — when the weather is bad, she prefers a comfortable seat at home.

“It is a lot of fun, even if you are at home to watch the Chiefs, just jumping and dancing, doing the funny steps, it just makes you happy,” Katrin said. “It’s contagious with the Chiefs, they are everywhere; you get hooked,” though she admits that she didn’t understand why Mike would want to stay up late to watch a game when they lived in Italy.

Mike has been a fan since he was a child growing up in Missouri, with Katrin and Maddie developing their devotion to the team when the family moved to Fort Leavenworth several years ago. They love to see the team win, but even if the Chiefs lose, they said they are still fans.

“I know we’re a good team, so we don’t let that get to us,” Mike said.

Christmas game day

For the Christmas Day game this year that starts at noon, the Fullers will leave home early that morning to ensure they can get there and get in line at least an hour before the gates open.

For last year’s Christmas Eve game, Mike dressed as Santa Claus and Maddie as a reindeer. This year, Mike will dress as the Grinch and Maddie as Max the dog from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” The Chiefs fans at the game with Goggle Girl and her dad will likely be festive as well.

“Chiefs fans are great, and they take care of each other. Chiefs fans are awesome,” Mike said. “I think it’s a family; it’s a family we’ve really enjoyed.”