‘It was fantastic’: How Taylor Swift spontaneously gave a gift to Chiefs fan at game
Chiefs fan Betsy Nacrelli is the first to admit that good fortune generally doesn’t shine on her, but she hit the jackpot at Saturday’s AFC Wild Card game.
And, no, she didn’t play the powerball.
“I have never been as lucky as we were on Saturday in my entire life,” Nacrelli said in a phone interview. “I’m never the person who wins the raffle giveaway or any of those things.”
Chances are, you saw Nacrelli and her friend Beth Vancil at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium toward the end of the Chiefs’ 26-7 win over the Dolphins. Their seats were directly in front of the suite where Taylor Swift, Brittany Mahomes and Donna Kelce joined in the “Swag Surfin’” celebration.
That was just a tiny part of what made the night magical for Nacrelli and Vancil.
The window to Swift’s suite was open throughout the game, so the Chiefs fans got to interact with the superstar singer, including receiving those “high-fours” from Swift when No. 4 Rashee Rice scored.
“You hear people say that she is very down to earth, she is very friendly. That was absolutely our experience,” Nacrelli said. “It’s surreal and I still don’t know if it’s completely set in what happened or the magnitude of what happened. But in the moment it felt very just organic and genuine like we were celebrating with normal fans. And that’s because she made it feel that way. And she was so outgoing and kind and genuine. And it was fantastic.
“It was only much later when we thought, ‘Oh my gosh, was that Taylor Swift just high-fiving us from Travis Kelce’s suite?’ I love to see positive stories being shared. And I think it’s fun that people could see that she was interacting and having a really good time at the game. We all were for a number of reasons. Of course it helps when you’re winning. But it seemed like everybody in that suite and, of course, everyone in the stadium was just having a ball.”
A special gift
At one point, Vancil joked that she was unaccustomed to so many people looking in her direction and taking photos. Clearly, that was because other fans wanted a picture of Swift, but the 12-time Grammy Award winner played along with the joke.
“And Taylor said, ‘I know. I don’t understand what’s going on.’ She was so funny and so sweet and so kind,” Nacrelli recalled. “And so at the end of the game, Beth asked if we could take a photo with her, and she and Brittany were so kind and accommodating. And then Taylor reached over to Beth and she said, ‘You look really cold.’ …
“She literally wrapped her scarf around Beth and said, ‘Well, you’re our good luck charm now,’ which is ironic because I have a jewelry brand and we specialize in charm jewelry.”
After the game, the friends were on the elevator when they truly realized what happened.
“Did Taylor Swift just give me her scarf?” Vancil asked.
Nacrelli replied: “I think she did.”
Brittany Mahomes
Nacrelli, the founder of Collections by Joya, lives in St. Louis and became a Chiefs fan in part because of her former home: Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
That’s the hometown of Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who is dating Swift. His mother, Donna, was sitting next to Swift for much of Saturday’s game, and Brittany Mahomes, who is married to Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, was there, too.
“She was also so fun and engaging and kind and celebratory,” Nacrelli said of Brittany Mahomes. “We were all celebrating what an amazing night it was, and it was super fun as well.”
Hey, it’s Paul Rudd
After their pinch-me moment in the elevator, things somehow got even better for these Chiefs fans.
“After the game, after our high-fives and scarf-sharing with Taylor, we got back on the elevator to go down to the locker room club,” Nacrelli recalled. “Someone stopped the elevator and said, ‘Oh, can you guys make some space?’ And we backed up and (former Chiefs star) Tamba Hali and (actor) Paul Rudd got on the elevator, and we all just went silent and looked at ourselves like, ‘Are you kidding me? Like, is this really happening?’
“But I think we played it cool enough in the moment that we didn’t freak anybody out. And I have to say Tamba was incredible. He was so fun. And he even said, ‘I want to go out with you guys for a drink.’”
All told, it was a remarkable night for Nacrelli and Vancil.
“Everyone was so down and negative about how Arrowhead wasn’t going to have the same energy because of how cold it was going to be with the windchill,” Nacrelli said, “and I gotta tell you, that place was as loud as ever and as packed as ever.”
