BOISE, Idaho — One of the first times Jon Anderson found a meaningful purpose in life came in the ninth grade.
Thanks to his grandmother’s influence, he was obsessed with sports. He watched and listened to as much as he could, and though he had special needs, Jon was given the opportunity to join his junior high basketball team. When he would get into games, both teams would work together to let him score and the crowd would celebrate those shots as if they were game-winners.
For him, this all seemed normal and his experience on the track team was similar.
“He would always be last, but he never knew he was last,” his mom, Tami Anderson, said. “The whole team would go pick him up at the very end because he was still running and they would go and run with him to the finish line. The kids were so amazing.”
Tami cherishes those memories, but at the time, it was hard to shake the feeling they were simply reprieves from a tough life ahead.
“It was horrible because I thought after high school, his life would be over,” she said.
To those around the Boise State athletic department, it’s hard to imagine that now.
Not only has Jon found his way, he has become a pillar of the Boise community. A beloved employee at a local Albertsons for nearly three decades, a legendary figure at Borah High School athletic events and, for the past 25 years, the guy around the Broncos’ football and basketball programs who everybody knows.
“I can’t go any place in town with him without someone saying hi to him,” his father, Mike Anderson, said. “It’s pretty amazing.”
Jon’s story could have easily turned out differently.
Shortly after receiving a series of standard injections as an infant, he came down with a fever and all but stopped progressing, Tami said. There has never been a firm medical diagnosis for what happened, but Jon was slow to walk, slow to talk and faced several other related obstacles. At 42 years old, he can’t read much or write; he can’t drive a car and though he has become more self-sufficient over the years, he will always require a support system.
In other areas, he’s incredibly capable. He has an amazing memory, especially when it comes to sports, and he has learned how to read scores — both when they appear on TV and in print.
Tami’s fear was that once he was done with high school and no longer had the structure it provided, he would have trouble finding his way. She fights back tears talking about it now, but more because of how happy she is with the way things turned out.
Brad Larrondo, Boise State’s senior associate athletic director for external operations, is the person responsible for welcoming Jon into the Boise State family. Larrondo’s younger brother went to the same junior high as Jon and over time he found himself drawn to this teenager’s enthusiastic personality.
“He loved sports and just being around the games,” said Larrondo, who at the time worked in BSU media relations. “And so we just came up with an idea with the coaching staff one day, ‘Why doesn’t Jon be down on the sidelines and he can help with water?’ “
What started as a small gesture turned into a life-changing experience. Anderson’s role — his school-issued badge identifies him as a “Hydro Tech” — began under coach Pokey Allen when Boise State was in the Big Sky Conference. He had a first-class seat as the Broncos made the leap to what is now FBS. He has developed unique, personal relationships with coaches Houston Nutt, Dirk Koetter, Dan Hawkins, Chris Petersen and Bryan Harsin, as the Broncos have become one of the most successful programs in college football.
“He’s always been about the Boise State Broncos,” Petersen said. “And there’s no one more loyal and no one cares about that program more than Jon Anderson.”
“He’s always been about the Boise State Broncos. And there’s no one more loyal and no one cares about that program more than Jon Anderson.”
Chris Petersen, former Boise State coach
In 1997, Tami was at work when she received an unexpected call from her son.
“He said, ‘Mom, where’s our fishing pole?” Tami said. “I said why? ‘Because Houston Nutt is at our house and he wants to take me fishing.’ ” She hurried home to help find the pole.
Those types of encounters with coaches have been commonplace over the years. At times, Jon can struggle to interpret certain social cues, but he certainly isn’t shy.
“My very first day on the job here in 1998, I am in this office talking to my new boss [then-athletic director Gene Bleymaier],” Boise State athletic director Curt Apsey said. “I can’t remember what the conversation was, but the door’s closed. Then Jon Anderson comes barreling in, he comes up to Gene’s desk and he’s like, ‘Hey Gene, are you going to the Final Four?
“I’ve never met him. I look up at Jon and I look at Gene and Gene was great. He was like, ‘Jonny, I’m in a meeting, you need to come back later.’ ‘Oh, I’m sorry, Gene.’ And he left.”
Karl Benson, a Boise State alum, was on the sideline before a football game during his tenure as the WAC commissioner when he first crossed paths with Jon.
“He came up to me and said, ‘Aren’t you the WAC commissioner?’ ” Benson said. “And we just struck up a friendship from there.” Benson later sent Jon a package of WAC gear with a note that remains framed on the wall in Jon’s home, where he lives with his mom.
Benson would make regular trips to Boise in his capacity as commissioner and every time he came to town, he said, he and Jon would somehow gravitate to each other.
In 2009, Benson was in Boise to present the Broncos with a WAC football championship trophy. The logistics for these postgame presentations can be difficult, but the plan was to use a flat-bed truck as a makeshift stage and just before it was about to happen, Benson saw Jon on the sideline.
“I’m going to need some help with this, Jon,” Benson said, pointing to the trophy. “I don’t think I can hold this trophy. Do you mind holding it for me? And he just started grinning ear-to-ear.”
That’s how Jon ended up in the back of an orange truck, hoisting the WAC trophy before handing it to Petersen.
“There are a lot of super fans across the country in college towns and college communities,” said Benson, who later became commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference. “And if there is a hall of fame of super fans, Jon Anderson definitely should be a part of that.”
During Petersen’s tenure, Jon would have free rein to come and go through the football offices as he pleased. He would pop in unannounced and if Petersen had time, Jon would talk his ear off. They would often walk together to regular Monday luncheons.
Jon’s relationship with Petersen extended to the rest of his immediate family, too. As a bagger at Albertsons, Jon developed a relationship with Petersen’s wife, Barbara, and their sons, and always made a point to take their groceries to the car.
“I can tell you they would purposely go to Albertsons where Jon was working just so they could say hi to him,” Petersen said. “My wife and my boys just really, really care for Jon.”
He never believed the constant rumors Petersen was going to leave Boise for another job. One year there was strong speculation Petersen was headed to Oregon, but Jon happily reported to his mom not to believe it.
“He came home from work and said, ‘Well, Coach Pete’s not going to Oregon,’ ” Tami said. “I asked him how he knew and he said, ‘I talked to Barbara.’ “
But, of course, Petersen did eventually leave for Washington, and will coach his last game for the Huskies against Boise State in Saturday’s Mitsubishi Motors Las Vegas Bowl (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN App). Jon will watch the game at home with his mom and a few others — his father is remarried and lives across town — but he isn’t happy about the matchup.
“The other night I asked him who he was going to root for and he said, ‘Gosh, Mom, I really don’t know,’ ” Tami said. “I said, ‘Oh, Jonny, you’re going to root for BSU.’ ‘That’s a hard one, Mom.’ “
The day it was announced Petersen was leaving for Washington was particularly rough at the Anderson home. When Tami found out the news, Jon was asleep, so she went into his room, woke him and told him.
“No, Mom. That’s not true,” he said.
“Yes, it is, Jon,” she replied.
They shared a good, long cry and once Jon was done processing the news, he got wrapped up in the interview process to find Petersen’s replacement. When it was announced Harsin, a Boise native, was returning, Jon was pleased.
Harsin went to Capital High, Borah’s rival, and dating back to Harsin’s time as a player at Boise State, the two have had several conversations about the rivalry.
“Every time they’d play, he’d find me and just be like, ‘What do you think’s gonna happen?’ ” Harsin said. “That was kind of our fun little challenge against each other.
“But he’s been around here a long time and many, many, many people know him.”
Jon works four, four-hour midday shifts at Albertsons every week. He rides his bike to the bus stop, takes the bus to work and then normally has a Lyft take him back to his bike at the end of his shift.
Usually, on his way home, he stops by Borah, where he checks in on whatever is going on that afternoon. He’s as dedicated to the school as he is to Boise State.
“Jon has a purpose just as we all do,” Tami said. “Everybody needs a purpose and Jon has a purpose. He gets up in the morning, gets ready, goes to work. And he loves his hours because he’s home by 3:30 and he gets to stop at Borah and he’s off on Fridays.”
Part of what worried Tami about Jon’s future when he was younger was that he would lack purpose, but that hasn’t been a concern for a long time. The grocery store, she said, which has its corporate headquarters in Boise, has been good to him.
When he gets home, he heads to his den, which is mostly decorated with Boise State memorabilia. He turns on the TV and watches nothing but sports. It’s not unusual for one of the many friends he has collected over the years to take him out on the town and on Tuesday nights he participates in a program through Community Partnerships that helps adults with disabilities learn life and self-sufficiency skills.
What still stands out to Petersen is how Jon’s parents have helped foster such a positive environment.
“I’m kind of in the parent business with all these kids that we recruit, that I know really good parents when I see them,” Petersen said. “And from probably the second time that I encountered Jon and his family, one of the first things that jumped out was how wonderful his parents are.
“They’ve made sure that Jon is independent, but they are super supportive of whatever Jon’s into and they make sure things happen if he’s into it. I think about Jon and his parents just in terms of that whole dynamic and it’s really, really impressive.”
Without the support of the Boise State community, Tami isn’t sure how things would have turned out, but Larrondo is quick to point out it’s been a two-way street.
“It’s been a really unique combination and you can see that he’s made so many friendships and so many relationships from it,” Larrondo said. “It’s kinda like an everybody-knows-Jonny type of thing. It’s been a really cool thing for his life, but he’s had a strong impact on our program and sports at Boise.”