Lost football tickets in a game day crowd of 29,000-plus at the University of Wyoming last Saturday?

No problem. Even with a detour through Oregon.

In one of those “only in Wyoming” stories, Sen. Mike Enzi and his wife Diana had their tickets to the Wyoming-Oregon game back before they even knew they were missing. That’s the kind of recognition that comes with serving 20 years in the U.S. Senate.

Their son, Brad Enzi of Cheyenne, can laugh about it now. He was in charge of delivering the tickets to his parents.

Actually, it wasn’t even full name recognition that saved the day. It was half a name, and the senator’s last name — Enzi — wasn’t part of it. That’s more of the magic in this story.

Brad Enzi had parked his vehicle Saturday in a perimeter parking lot by the soccer fields and was walking past the packed tailgating area outside War Memorial Stadium. He was attracted by a dog belonging to Oregon fans who had driven to the game. He stopped to look at the dog, and the tickets apparently slipped out of his back pocket.

The ticket envelope, simply labeled “Senator and Diana,” was picked up by an Oregon tailgater. The first Wyoming fans who came along were questioned, “Does anyone know this Senator and Diana? Do you know these people?”

The answer was swift and caught the visitor from Oregon by surprise.

“The person he asked was one of my best friends,” said Brad Enzi. “He said, ‘Yeah, I know them. I’ll call their son.’ These people couldn’t believe it.”

“What kind of senator is he?“ the impressed Oregon man asked.

He then learned that he had interceded on behalf of a U.S. Senator. 

I love this kind of tale that recalls the image of Wyoming as one big neighborhood where everyone knows each other or, as former Gov. Mike Sullivan famously described the state, one community with long streets.