Mark Urbanski has been tailgating at Tampa Bay Buccaneers games since the team’s inaugural game in 1976. His late father, Jim Urbanski, the retired president and general manager of The Tampa Tribune, was among a small group of local businessmen who began seeking an NFL franchise for Tampa in the 1960s.
“I throw a very large tailgate party for every home game. We’ve been doing it for decades,” Urbanski said. “What makes us different is we never charge anything. Everyone just helps out and contributes. It’s amazing. We are true, longtime, hardcore fans with a passion for football and the Buccaneers.”
Many retired Bucs and other NFL alumni attend the tailgates, in addition to the team’s fans. One longtime attendee, a chef, once brought suitcases full of tuna that he had caught off the coast of California to cook on his grill before a game.
“We have our resident DJ, Greg Berrios, at all of the tailgates playing energetic music from our PA system with many (people) dancing under one of the tents,” said Urbanski, who added that Brian Ford, the Bucs’ chief operating officer, has attended the tailgate parties in recent years. ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” has even featured the tailgate on their broadcast.
Some of the tailgate parties are joint ventures with the NFL Alumni Association Tampa Bay chapter, of which Urbanski is a board member. This nonprofit organization is comprised mostly of former NFL players and associates and helps members and their families in their post-professional years, as well as the community.
Urbanski’s tailgate group is collaborating with the local chapter of the alumni organization to hold a blowout tailgate party on Sept. 21, the date of the Bucs’ home opener against the New York Jets. The party will start at 9:30 a.m. at the group’s regular meeting spot: Lot Six at Raymond James Stadium, south of Tampa Bay Boulevard, directly across North Himes Avenue from the Morgan & Morgan law firm.