UNCASVILLE – Richard and Kathleen Geltzer of Wethersfield have been Connecticut Sun fans and season ticket holders since the team’s inception in 2003.
Thursday night the Geltzers were at Mohegan Sun Arena for the last Connecticut Sun game, before the team moves to Houston for next season.
“I’m going to have tears in my eyes the whole night,” Kathleen said earlier in the week. “I just loved, loved the fact that we had a women’s team here. A professional team here in Connecticut. I’m really heartbroken.”
Said Richard: “It’s been a passion of my wife’s for so long – she was even part of the senior dance team for a while – it’s been our passion for 23 years, 24 whatever it is. It’s terrible.”
Devoted fan Mary Olivieri shows her Sun tattoo before the team’s final game in Connecticut, on Thursday night vs. Toronto at Mohegan Sun. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Thursday night, before the opening tip vs. the Toronto Tempo, the season ticket holders lined up in their special line outside the arena like they always do. It snaked past the Krispy Kreme donut shop and beyond. There were younger and older fans and all ages in between. There was a range of emotions from sad to angry to nostalgic to grateful.
Many were clad in the Sun’s signature orange jerseys. Marcia Velencia came from the Boston area with her sons and her brother-in-law. She wore a shirt that read: “Thank you Sun.”
“We were reading the angry tweets to pass the time on the trip down here,” Velencia said. “It’s very sad. Connecticut has been such a good market.
“We’ve loved it. We’ve had a great time.”
It’s a two-hour drive each way for Velencia, who has been a season-ticket holder the last three years. She only missed two games this season.
“The players are so wonderful and I’ll miss all the fans too,” she said. “I’ve always loved basketball and a few years ago, my kids asked me who are the ‘GOATs’ of women’s basketball and I said, ‘Let’s go see a game.’ I have boys and they fell in love with it.
“The players are kind and engaging. We could go to the Celtics but that’s a totally different atmosphere. We became friends with the fans around us; we’ve built a community and you feel like you’re part of a family.”
Wendy Heilweil of Norwich was at the front of the line with a group of friends. She has been a season ticket holder since the franchise moved to Connecticut in 2003.
“It’s very sad,” Heilweil said. “We made so many friends here. It’s just sad it’s going to be the last night.”
Fan Anne Rajotte, left, of West Hartford, embraces Sun employee Delaney Roth on Thursday before the Sun’s final game in Connecticut before heading to Houston for the 2027 season. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
One of those friends, Eddie Tuthill of Ledyard, was similarly sad, also “upset. And mad.
“These are my Sun family members.”
So what are the fans going to do next summer, if your summers are built around going to WNBA games?
“I keep asking everybody, ‘What are we going to do next summer?’” said Sun fan Kathy Criscillo of Newington.
Tuthill thought he might go to the beach or some concerts. Some, like Darryl Branch of New London, said they might go to New York to Liberty games.
Heilweil doesn’t like the Liberty so she’s not going to New York.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t think I’m going to Houston.”
Velencia said she wasn’t even sure if she would buy Houston Comets gear.
“But you want to root for these players who have been so good to you,” Velencia said. “Aaliyah Edwards, we love her, and Saniya (Rivers), they’re so good with the fans. We might root for a different team.
“It might take me a little while to process my feelings and decide what to do.”
Kathleen Geltzer remembered when she first called the Sun and asked about season tickets back in the spring of 2003.
“They asked us where we wanted to sit,” she said. “We said, ‘In the corner behind the team about five rows up,’ and that’s exactly where they put us.”
“We’ve been there ever since,” Richard said. “We’ve been to 90 percent of the games.
“We’ve seen it all.”