SEMINOLE, Fla. — Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ future hall of fame quarterback Tom Brady announced his retirement from the NFL last week. Now, another Bucs’ hall of fame member is calling it a career after the 2022 season.
Bucs’ superfan Keith Kunzig, a.k.a “Big Nasty,” told ABC Action News sports anchor Kyle Burger that next season will be his last wearing the face paint.
"I’m getting older, the heat, everything. It’s not that that I don’t enjoy being “Big Nasty,” it’s just that time,” Kunzig said. “It’s going to be 35 years since my first game as ‘Big Nasty.’ It will be nice to go to the game in a visor, shorts, and flip flops and have a cold one once in a while.”
His first game as “Big Nasty” was in 1988 when the Green Bay Packers visited the Bucs.
“My brother broke up with his girlfriend, what are we going to do? I got to cheer him up. Let’s paint our faces,” Kunzig said.
A big reason for his decision is family.
“Part of the decision is about the family,” Kunzig said. “It’s about the family time. It’s not going to take me away from going to Bucs football games. But, being ‘Big Nasty’ is 365 days a year.”
Kunzig, a financial advisor, also spearheads the “Drugs are Nasty” program where he talks to students about drug prevention. He also donates an experience to children’s charities called “Nasty for a Day” where the winner spends a day with “Big Nasty.”
Kunzig is also a Pro Football Hall of Fame fan, twice-inducted, blazing a path for the next Bucs’ super fan.
“To watch Buc Nation grow, being able to have fans in London. I remember when there were only Buc fans in Tampa Bay, not across the country and across the world,” he said. “It’s been unbelievable watching Buc Nation grow. It’s in good hands. That 12th man was rocking.”
Hopefully rockin’ all the way to another Super Bowl title and going out on top.
“That last game I’ll worry about when I get there but I’ll probably be crying like a baby.”
