Skip to content

108-year-old Cubs fan celebrates 2nd title of her lifetime

Jim Morelli / Twitter

Hazel Nilson is one member of a small group of people left on this earth that was alive when the Chicago Cubs won the World Series in 1908. She didn't witness that one, though, having been born Aug. 21, 1908 - less than two months before the Cubs' second-most recent championship.

On Wednesday, the 108-year-old Nilson - who grew up just a few blocks from Wrigley Field - watched her beloved Cubs do the impossible: Win a second World Series in her lifetime, and the first one she could bear witness to. Though she's seen two World Wars, the Great Depression, and the development of air travel, the automobile, and all kinds of other technology in her lifetime, it was the Cubs winning the 2016 World Series that left her without words.

"I'm so happy," Nilson told Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal on Thursday. "They finally did it."

Nilson and her 80-year-old son, Bob, watched the instant-classic Game 7 from her home in Sunapee, N.H., where she moved a few years ago. She stayed up until the bitter end of the game, which ended at close to 1 a.m. ET on Thursday morning, when Kris Bryant fielded the final ground ball in the 10th inning.

"It was a night I'll never forget," she said, according to Katherine Underwood and Marc Fortier of NBC 5 Chicago. "We were all rooting for the Cubs, and suddenly they had the hit that scored the run. We all yelled - I even jumped up!

"I always had hope that someday they'd win, and by golly, they did."

Related: What the world was like when Cubs last won the World Series

It's safe to say Nilson enjoyed the winning feeling from her Cubs - but if you think she's satisfied with only two titles in her 108 years on this earth, think again.

"Now," she told Gay, "they got to win it again."

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox