Redskins fan Martin Fuquay wanted a replica Super Bowl belt that his favorite team wore during their championship runs in the 1980s. As soon as the Alexandria, Va., native looked online to purchase the iconic piece of memorabilia, he found out that the belts were no longer available.
Fuquay, however, took matters into his own hands. He made a replica belt that commemorated the three Redskins Super Bowls to show off at the Bon Secours Training Center during Sunday's practice, constantly running into fans who took time to admire it.
"I've never seen them come up on Ebay or any of the belt sites or anything like that and I'm like, 'I really want one. You know what? I'm gonna make my own,'" Fuquay said. "I love it. I'm very proud of it. I just finished it up before camp."
Watching his first Redskins game in 1972 at three years-old with his father and uncle, Fuquay's earliest memories of the Redskins came in a playoff victory against the Dallas Cowboys to earn their way into the Super Bowl. His passion for the team grew as his uncle's two sisters, who were boosters and season ticket holders of the team, gave him Redskins gear growing up.
His appearances at FedExField came last season, where Fuquay's expectations for a game atmosphere did not disappoint. The first game he attended was against the Oakland Raiders in 2017 and his boss gave him and his wife tickets to see them play the Dallas Cowboys in Week 8, where he sat 11 rows behind the Redskins' bench on the 45-yard line.
Even though the Cowboys won that day, his experience in the crowd during a Redskins' touchdown was unlike anything he had ever seen before.
"It was cool. It was a lot of fun," Fuquay said. "Just being in the stadium itself, the atmosphere in the stadium when we're scoring, it just lights up and it goes nuts. Hopefully, good lord willing, I'll experience some of that this year too."
Check out these images of the fans at training camp practice Saturday, July 28, 2018, at Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center in Richmond, Va.
Making his sixth straight appearance to Richmond this past weekend, Fuquay dazzled fans and volunteers with his Super Bowl belt and was even asked if they could take pictures with him. He witnessed Sunday's intense practice with a close view and had the opportunity to take pictures and get autographs from a handful of players.
What makes training camp special for Fuquay is that he gets to have a personal experience with his favorite team's athletes, in addition to witnessing how the group is coming together prior to the season kickoff. While he has attended at least one training camp session every year in Richmond, he is impressed that there is more competitiveness in the early practices in 2018.
"I love the fact that you get to have an experience with the players," Fuquay said. "You wouldn't get to experience that any other way without coming out here. I love the fact that you get to see them on the field and get to see the team gel and get to see the team mesh. More so this year than I have in any other year that I've come, they showed a lot of fire out here the last two days that I've been out here and I've never seen that much coming to camp as far as guys being that intense this early into training camp."
