“Pinto Kenny” Goes to his 300th Straight Bills Game

Kenny Johnson lives in Rochester, New York. He’s a 55 year old software engineer. On the surface, he’s just like everybody else. But if you dig a little deeper you will find a devoted Buffalo Bills fan who will be attending his 300^th straight Buffalo Bills game today against the Tennessee Titans.

As Milt Northrop of the Buffalo News reports, Kenny Johnson, also known to many as “Pinto Kenny” has reached a remarkable achievement, something that may even be a Bills and NFL Record. The streak started in 1994 and from there it took on a life of its own.

“My goal was 16 games in a row. I just exceeded expectations,” the 55-year-old software engineer said Saturday.

Kenny is called “Pinto Kenny” because he’s known to drive a 1980 Ford Pinto to the Bills home games and uses it for his grill. But with 186,000 miles on the Pinto, he no longer drives it. He parks the Pinto in Orchard Park at the start of the season and brings it home at the end of the season. He now drives a 1998 Buick Regal to each game. He trails the Pinto to the Hammer Lot on Abbott Road, across from Ralph Wilson Stadium.

The 300^th straight Bills game just doesn’t extend to home games; this includes all road games as well. Johnson stated he drove straight from Rochester to San Francisco in 42 hours two weeks ago for a game against the 49ers, then made the trip to Phoenix with other Bills fans.

So it’s quite obvious that Kenny is a devoted Bills fan.

“We have huge tailgate parties and a lot of times we overrun a hotel,” he said. “When the Bills lose, everyone kind of just goes back to their room; the weekend is over. When they win, the party keeps going on. It’s a fantastic environment. Too bad it doesn’t happen more.”

Kenny says that he has no agenda set for extending his streak beyond this season.  But says if and when it ends it will not be without some careful planning.

“I won’t wake up cranky some morning and decide not to go to a game,” he said. “I will always give myself a year’s notice on whether I intend to make it to all 16 games again.”