Debra Klevens

Gerry Wieczorek stands with the Blues’ mascot Louie the Bear.

Receiving a surprise visit on Oct. 27, Gerry Wieczorek’s Algebra II/Trig class met the Blues’ mascot Louie the Bear and the Fox Sports Midwest Crew.

“I had no idea who was coming. I only knew when someone was coming. I was shocked when the Blues sent Louie to Parkway West,” Wieczorek said.

Fox Sports Midwest brought six Blues Banners for Wieczorek to display in his classroom.

“I was driving downtown with my wife last May and said to her I would love to have one of those Blues Banners that were on the light posts for my classroom. I called my season ticket rep and he told me that the Blues didn’t even own the banners. He told me that they belonged to Fox Sports Midwest. I called the director and he asked me to send him a picture of my classroom. When he saw my room he was amazed and said the banners were mine when they take them down right before the new season,” Wieczorek said.

The class did not know Louie was coming to visit.

“They were excited and thought it was really cool. Many students wanted to get their picture taken with Louie,” Wieczorek said.

Louie and Fox Sports Midwest were in the class during fifth and sixth hour.

“They were in in my room taking pictures and interviewing me,” Wieczorek said.

Wieczorek shared his favorite Blues memories and memorabilia with the crew from Fox Sports.

“They could not believe what they were seeing. They thought it was one of the coolest thing they have seen. They also couldn’t believe how perfect it all was,” Wieczorek said.

Wieczorek has been decorating his room since the second week of April. He completed the project at the end of the 2013-2014 school year.

“Last season when my family went to the first Blues Playoff game they handed out these ‘Let’s Go Blues!’ signs. I had two of them and I put them on the wall next to my door. As I was putting those up coach Duncan brought me three more. I asked him where he got them and he told me McDonald’s was handing them out.  I went to McDonalds to get a couple more signs. I asked the manager if they had anymore so I wouldn’t take the last ones. He pulled out an entire case of 500 signs and handed them to me. That’s when the project started,” Wieczorek said.

Wieczorek has season tickets to the Blues games.

“My family has had season tickets since the 1999-2000 season.  We have been there for the good seasons and all the bad seasons,” Wieczorek said. “We have tons of Blues items all around my house. We have many autographed Blues jerseys and sticks hanging in various places around the house,” Wieczorek said.

He began following the Blues as a child while growing up in Chicago.

“The Blackhawk games were only available on Pay Per View. My father told me that if I wanted to follow hockey I would have to pick a different team because we were not going to pay to watch a game on TV. That’s when the Blues were on ESPN all the time. That was the team I followed,” Wieczorek said.