PORT ANGELES — Josh Brown was hoping to get recognized by displaying the Seattle Seahawks’ 12th Man flag on a recent road trip.
The 2005 Port Angeles High School graduate and Army helicopter instructor pilot got more than he bargained for last week.
Brown and his friend Brandon Cumens of Birmingham, Ala., were invited to the Seahawks’ practice Friday after posting photographs from their 3½-day journey on social media sites.
Brown and Cumens, also an Army instructor pilot, road-tripped from their base at Fort Rucker, Ala., to the Seahawks game Sunday at CenturyLink Field.
Along the way, they posted photos of themselves holding the Seahawks flag in each state they passed through, including one picture in enemy territory outside the Denver Broncos’ stadium.
The social media posts caught the attention of Seahawks staff, who invited the pair to the practice at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center in Renton on Friday.
Brown and Cumens took photos with coach Pete Carroll and star players like Russell Wilson, Richard Sherman, Doug Baldwin and Jimmy Graham.
Graham, who is a stunt pilot when he’s not catching passes as Pro Bowl tight end, spent 15 to 20 minutes talking aviation with Brown and Cumens, who train Army pilots on the Black Hawk and Apache helicopters, respectively.
Brown, 28, said he enjoyed talking with the players and seeing “what the organization is all about.”
“It was neat,” Brown said Monday.
“As a kid growing up in the Northwest, you kind of idolized the Seahawks, Mariners and the Sonics.”
The Seahawks lost to the Arizona Cardinals 39-32 before a national television audience and a raucous home crowd Sunday night.
Brown and Cumens watched the pre-game festivities from the field near the team tunnel.
“That was a really cool experience,” said Brown, whose last attended a Seahawks game in 2012, “hearing the noise and realizing how loud it is on the field.”
Cumens, a die-hard University of Alabama football fan, was impressed by the atmosphere and game-day experience in Seattle.
“He was overwhelmed by it,” Brown said.
“We’ve been to SEC [Southeastern Conference] football games — a lot of people, a lot of camaraderie. I think he didn’t realize that you can experience that in the NFL, too.”
KING-TV in Seattle aired a segment about Brown and Cumens’ Seahawks-inspired road trip Sunday.
“We made a big trip out of it to see if we could get recognized,” Brown said.
“’It exceeded my expectations’ would be saying it to the minimal extent.”
Brown joined the Army after graduating from Washington State University in 2008.
He and his family are preparing to move from Alabama to Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
