This month marks the 20th anniversary of a friendship that began in a most unusual way. It was Super Bowl Weekend 2006. I had been at a pastors’ conference in Chicago and was in the process of heading home. While waiting at my gate at Midway Airport, I noticed two individuals wearing windbreakers with the logo of a Seattle radio station.

I introduced myself and engaged the two in conversation. I told them I was from Seattle and had worked at their radio station three decades earlier while going to seminary. Gregg Hersholt and Jane Shannon introduced themselves to me. They explained that they had been in Detroit the previous week doing their morning newscasts from the site of Super Bowl XL. They now were returning home. I kidded them about why management had not covered their expenses to stay for the big game.

On the flight back home, Gregg and I talked about the upcoming game between the Steelers and the Seahawks. I mentioned to him that I was a pastor on Mercer Island and that the head coach of the Seahawks was a member of my congregation. With a smile on my face, I told him I was going to wear my Hawks jersey underneath my preaching robe on Super Bowl Sunday. To catch the congregation unawares, I planned to unzip it at the conclusion of the sermon. Gregg got a kick out of that.

Once we had returned to Seattle, Gregg reached out to me. He thought my creative idea of going public with my team loyalty was broadcast-worthy. The morning of the game my new friend called me at the church and interviewed me on-the-air.

Within weeks we met for coffee. Gregg gave me a thumbnail history of his life and career. He told me about his famous grandfather. Jean Hersholt was the star of radio and film. It was Gregg’s grandfather who played the grandfather in the movie Heidi starring Shirley Temple. He was also the beloved Dr. Christian in the radio drama of the same name. And Gregg’s grandfather is the one in whose memory the Humanitarian Award is presented each year at the Oscars.

As we continued talking, I discovered that Gregg had a brother-in-law who was the director of the Bread of Life Mission in Pioneer Square. I mentioned that I had a friend who hosted a Bible study for folks in the media. Gregg expressed interest and began attending. From time-to-time he and I would meet and debrief life and faith over breakfast.

In 2009 when the Lakewood police officers were gunned down at a suburban Tacoma coffee shop, Gregg turned to me for a pastoral perspective. A few years later, when my book on the movie It’s a Wonderful Life was published, my friend recorded a segment that aired on Christmas Day in which he promoted my work.

When I arranged a Seattle book promotion tour for my friend Jack Perkins, a retired news correspondent for NBC TV who had just written his memoir, I asked Gregg if he’d help set up some interviews. Of course, he did. That’s what friends do.

Following the Seahawks back-to-back Super Bowl appearances, I pitched Gregg with an idea. What if I wrote pithy little poems about upcoming games for each Blue Friday during the Seahawks season? He liked the out-of-the-box concept. For two consecutive seasons I had a weekly deadline crafting creative verse for the upcoming game. Gregg read my rhymes on-the-air in the midst of his morning newscasts.

When his co-host Jane Shannon (who I had met at the Chicago airport) died unexpectedly in 2015, Gregg encouraged the family to have me speak at her memorial service. It was a bittersweet honor that was the result of a growing friendship.

In the past couple years Gregg and I have both retired from jobs we found deeply fulfilling. Our recent conversations over coffee have found us talking about our adult children and grandkids. We regularly reflect on this season of life aware of our need for prayer as well as the debt of gratitude we owe God. And yes, we often refer to that memorable Super Bowl Weekend twenty years ago when our friendship was born.

Guest columnist Greg Asimakoupoulos is a former chaplain at Covenant Living at the Shores in Mercer Island.