Gaffney football fan Claude Bridges is shown with great-great-granddaughter Rachel beside the ticket booths at the new Gaffney High football stadium. Claude Bridges will live out a dream Friday night when he attends his second opening of a Gaffney High football stadium.

Bridges was a Gaffney High senior when he attended the first football game ever played in W.K. Brumbach Stadium, commonly called The Reservation. He watched a 13-0 Gaffney victory over the Children's Home on Oct. 15, 1937.

Now 92 years old, Bridges still speaks with the excitement of a true football fan when he thinks about watching Gaffney play Dorman on Friday. He will attend the game with his son Jerry and sit in the handicapped seating section in the new stadium.

"I have been a Gaffney football fan all my life. I have been going to games since I was 12 years old," Bridges said. "There was one stretch where I didn't miss a game for almost 40 years. I never imagined I would be around when they opened another stadium."

Bridges hasn't been to a Gaffney football game in quite awhile.

He spent much of his time caring for his wife of 67 years, who recently passed away.

He has six grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and four great-great grandchildren.

One of his sons was a Gaffney High football player many seasons ago.

Bridges owned a welding shop for many years. For one of his welding jobs, he helped install the hand rails in W.K. Brumbach Stadium when it was remodeled in the late 1960s.

Gaffney High played its home football games in the stadium from 1937-2007. The school district spent $8.4 million to build a new 8,250-seat stadium beside Gaffney High School over the past year.

Bridges said he expects a much different experience from when he sat in the bleachers as a young man for the first game in 1937. He shakes his head in wonderment when the talk turns to the giant electronic scoreboard with instant replay that will be unveiled at Friday's game.

"I don't really remember anything special from the first game at the Gaffney High football stadium. I was just proud to be sitting in the stands," Bridges said.

"I thought it would be really neat to see the first game in two stadiums. There aren't many people who get that chance in a lifetime."