Angela Austin figures “Big O” pulled off a big orchestration from heaven. “I know he’s looking down, smiling,” she said.
Oscar “Big O” Austin, who passed away two days after Christmas Day 2023, absolutely would be wearing an ear-to-ear smile on his face upon learning that Angela, his wife, was named New Orleans Saints Fan of the Year for 2025.
The legacy of fandom Big O helped create — the Uptown Tailgaters (UPT) — has been ably extended with help from “Mrs. Big O,” a certified surgical technologist at Ochsner Baptist Hospital who met Oscar in 2005 and started tailgating with him that season, in the UPT spot under the Claiborne Ave. bridge, which features a picturesque view of the Caesars Superdome.
“It didn’t surprise me (she was named Fan of the Year),” said Jimmie Pierre, Oscar’s ‘little big brother’ and a UPT member who keeps close tabs on Angela since Oscar’s passing. “But, I mean, out of millions of people — it’s like winning the lottery. She deserves it. I think her husband was looking down and said, ‘We’re going to make this happen.’ I know he’s smiling and grinning.”
Angela said Oscar’s family has had season tickets since 1967, at Tulane Stadium. “My husband’s parents passed away and we got the tickets,” she said. “And when my husband passed away, I was like, this is legacy.”
Her shepherding of the tickets through generations is proof positive of her dedication to the team. “They asked me what makes me a good Saints fan. And I thought: Loyalty, because the Austins have been season ticket holders since 1967; love, because we love the Saints; and definitely legacy, because I’ll be able to pass that on to our children and our grandchildren.
“We initially had seven seats in the Superdome. After my husband passed, I went down to four seats, which was the original four — him, his mom, his dad and his sister — and I ended up with an extra seat, so I have five seats.”