PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — As family and friends of missing Lyft driver Gary Levin struggle through more uncertainty about his whereabouts, one longtime friend is recalling their devotion to Philadelphia's football team.
"It was the first thing we talked about [during our last conversation]," Howard Rice said, referring to the Philadelphia Eagles playing in this week's Super Bowl.
Rice said he and Levin have been attending Eagles games since their days together at Temple University in Philadelphia.
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"Gary would occasionally come and tailgate with us and go to games, and we'd be sitting there with 65,000 people, and he would start talking to the people, just cracking jokes," Rice said.
They also went to the Super Bowl in 2005 in Jacksonville, when the Eagles played against the New England Patriots.
"He called me and said, 'Let's go to the game.' I said, 'I don't have any tickets.' He said, 'We'll get tickets down there,'" Rice said. "And as it turns out, we got last-minute scalper tickets and went to the game."
This week should have been a happy time for them, getting ready for the big game on Sunday.
"It's upsetting, you know, holding on to hope," Rice said.