Editors’ note: The following story describes a regrettable act of fan violence that occurred several decades ago and has since taken on a life of its own in the club’s folklore.



Peter Bockman never thought he would become a club legend when he started going to MetroStars games in 1996. He never expected to enter the stadium and see a banner carrying his name, or to hear his name echoing off the rafters as the Empire Supporters Club sang his praise. And even if he had—even if, for even the most private and fleeting of moments, he had allowed himself to imagine that, 20 years on, at the age of 70 and fighting two chronic diseases, he would find his old comrades coming to his aid—he never would have suspected that it would be thanks to one paranoid moment that took place in the parking lot outside RFK Stadium.



Peter Bockman didn’t do what he did because he thought it would make him a club legend. He did it out of loyalty. He did it out of...