Crashed and burned

Missed '86 game after accident, but this time just out of luck

The last time the Chicago Bears were in the Super Bowl, Aaron Lebedow was in a coma.

Literally.

The longtime season ticket holder had tickets to the big game in New Orleans, a flight booked and hotel reservations.

But on Jan. 21, 1986 -- five days before Super Bowl XX -- Lebedow was hit by a truck. He ended up in Evanston Hospital until March, and spent the first 19 days in a coma.

"I slept through their destruction of the Patriots,'' said Lebedow, now 71, who suffered a fractured leg and injured abdomen, but no long-term brain damage. "When I awoke, anyone who ever knew me sent a video of the game, but it obviously wasn't the same.''

So he was determined to go this time.

But he got shut out in the lottery for Bears season ticket holders.

This season, unlike 1985, the Bears did not give preference to longer-tenured season ticket holders.

Owners of pricey, personal seat licenses in the club section did get preference.

And Lebedow is, again, out of luck.

"Fifty years of loyalty and commitment is worthless,'' said Lebedow, who has had tickets since 1956, except for a few years he was in the U.S. Air Force.

Lebedow, who owns a marketing consulting business in Lincolnwood, said he sent a letter pleading with the Bears for tickets last week, but received no response.

Bears spokesman Scott Hagel said he was in Miami and could not verify whether the Bears received the request.

"The goal of the team is to get as many season ticket holders down there as possible,'' Hagel said. "Unfortunately, the ticket number is limited.''

dnewbart@suntimes.com