Sweetie, a 105-year-old Oakland resident, is one of the Golden State Warriors’ biggest fans. She watches all the team’s games from her home, and thinks Golden State will win the NBA title for the first time in 40 years.
“I want to see them do it. I hope they do and I think they will,” Sweetie recently told ABC 7 News.
“We can’t believe it. It’s amazing that she can follow the game and she’s really into it,” her daughter, Lily Toney, told the news station.
Here’s what you need to know about Sweetie:
1. She Turns 106 a Day After Game 4 of the NBA Finals
Sweetie, the 105-year-old Warriors fan. (ABC 7 screenshot)
Sweetie was born June 12, 1909 in Texas. She has lived in the same Oakland house since 1956 and is still independent.
She told ABC 7 the secret to her longevity is oatmeal for breakfast, no fried food and drinking only milk, orange juice and water.
Sweetie has two living children, four grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and seven great-great-grandchildren, she told Mashable.
2. She Watches Warriors Games With Her Cat, Coco Chanel
“Every time I holler at the team, she just looks up at me,” Sweetie told Mashable. “And I holler at them a lot. I tell them: ‘Go get that ball!'”
3. Warriors Coach Steve Kerr Gave Her a Shoutout After Golden State Advanced to the Finals
.@SteveKerr shouting out Sweetie (and this story: http://t.co/V0mlnRAany) just made my year. http://t.co/UizmIjyPUW
During his press conference after the Warriors Game 5 victory over the Rockets in the Western Conference Finals, Kerr said he was happy for the diehard Warriors fans who have been waiting 40 years for the team to return to the NBA Finals. He gave a shoutout to Sweetie, who he said he recently read a story about.
Sweetie had some advice for Kerr, telling ABC 7 he can be “too timid on the sidelines”
4. Her Favorite Player is Draymond Green
The @warriors better step it up. Sweetie their 105yo fan is watching. #DubNation Matriarch #Dubson7 @abc7newsBayArea http://t.co/Uzdhr8Zo58
Sweetie is a fan of Steph Curry, the NBA MVP and the Warriors star, but her favorite player is third-year forward Draymond Green, she told Mashable.
“He came a long ways, you know what I mean?” Sweetie said. “I like Green’s style.”
She also had some advice for Curry and Green, telling Mashable:
I just pray that neither one of them will get the swellhead. Because that can happen. Anything is possible when you throw that money in front of their face.
It used to be — here I go — it used to be where it was a game and you enjoyed it, but now it’s a whole lifestyle where everyone wants to outdo each other and that’s very stupid. No, you do what you want to do. You live your life. You don’t go trying to outdo Tom, Nick or Harry!
5. She Became a Warriors Fan With Her Husband & Says The Games Remind Her of Him
Warriors should win for their 105-year-old fan, Sweetie http://t.co/M3WqjQzMT8 http://t.co/e1v1va634u
Sweetie’s husband, Clifford, died in 1999, according to the Mashable article. The couple started to become big Warriors fans in the 90s, and Sweetie says she became a bigger fan after he died, as the games remind her of being with him.
“The memory comes back,” Sweetie told Mashable. “It can’t go away if the person is nice. It stays there. My husband was the dearest and the nicest. I miss him so much.”
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Sweetie, 105-Year-Old Warriors Fan: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know