It was more than just a Terrible Towel. It was a symbol of a mother’s and daughter’s shared love of football and the Pittsburgh Steelers. The personalized terrible towel was a gift from Danijela Jergan’s mother, Cynthia, prior to her death last February after a four-year-long battle with pancreatic cancer.
And now it’s gone, swiped, Jergan says, by Buffalo Bills fans at last Sunday’s home loss.
Via email, Jergan told BroBible that the theft occurred during the last 10 minutes of the game. She and her friends were sitting in Section 124 when a group of “visibly intoxicated,” male, 20-something Bills fans made their way past them.
Something about the fans made them take notice. “As they passed us and got to the stairs, they ran which the friends I was with, mentioned being odd,” Jergan said, adding, “It was strange that they even came down our side when they were 3-4 people away from exiting on their side of the aisle.”
It was a few minutes before Jergan realized that the personalized Terrible Towel her mother gave her wasn’t in her pocket. By then, the men were gone.
She was distraught. They searched everywhere, told guest services, and spoke to security. All for naught.
Now Jergan has taken her story to TikTok in the hopes of someone finding her treasured Terrible Towel. So far, no luck.
What’s A Terrible Towel?
Football, like any sport, is steeped in tradition. Each team has its own traditions. Green Bay Packers fans wear cheesehead hats. Washington Commanders fans sport pig snouts.
For Pittsburgh Steelers fans, it’s the iconic yellow hand towels known as Terrible Towels.
The Terrible Towel traces its roots to 1975, when Steelers broadcaster Myron Cope created it as a gimmick to drum up excitement for a playoff game against the then-Baltimore Colts. Fans complied with his request to bring yellow dish towels to the game, and, per Visit Pittsburgh, when those towels were waving in the air, the team just seemed to make great plays. They won the game 28-10.
The Terrible Towel’s lore only grew after the Steelers beat the Dallas Cowboys to win the Super Bowl that season.
Today, every time the Steelers play, be it home or away, you’ll see thousands of those towels waving in the stands.
A Special Mother-Daughter Bond
Jergan’s love of football was fostered by her mother’s side. “I am a very knowledgeable football fan, all thanks to my mother for instilling the love for Pittsburgh sports, especially our love for the Steelers, at a very young age,” she told BroBible.
The two were incredibly close, with Jergan describing her mother as “my rock and best friend.”
After her mother’s cancer diagnosis, they continued going to games when she was well enough and the weather wasn’t too cold.
Last year, her mother’s rapidly declined. The then-27-year-old took a leave of absence that September to take care of her. She said that her mother was in the hospital for two months straight prior to entering hospice care at home.
“During that time was the peak of Steelers season,” Jergan said of her time in the hospital. “I would spend every single game day at the hospital with my mother, terrible towel in hand, to root on our Steelers.”
Her mother had a special message for her daughter embroidered in black on the towel: “Always With You, Moja Jedina.”
“This towel was more than just any terrible towel,” Jergan said.
Her mother passed away last February, just four days after Jergan’s 28th birthday. For Jergan, her lost Terrible Towel is a reminder of better times.
“My mom was battling pancreatic cancer for 4 brutal years. The toll it took on my mother was something I will never ever forget,” she told BroBible.
Distraught Daughter Takes Terrible Towel Search To TikTok
After she realized it was gone, Jergan posted a TikTok asking for help getting it back.
Her emotions are raw in the post.
“If it is at all possible, I hope that it was those people so they could return that terrible towel because that was very important to me,” she pleads in the post. Later, she says, “If you could f—— give it back to me, you should, because that’s absolutely ridiculous. You should have some self respect.”
The grieving daughter also says that she was so upset she had a panic attack after the game and had to have her boyfriend come pick her up.
Her desperate plea for the return of the treasured momento from her late mother has resonated. As of this writing, nearly 900,000 people have watched the TikTok. More than 1,300 have commented.
“This is not ok! I have my Terrible Towel from my Dad who I lost & I know how heartbroken I would be. Find her towel,” Kris Givens Rose wrote.
Self-described Bills fans Paul added, “Those fans do NOT represent who we are as Billsmafia and Bills fans alike: I am really sorry this happened to you. As someone who lost their dad I couldn’t imagine.”
Jergan says she’s received messages from people claiming they may have seen her towel in the street after the game. She’s scoured the area and followed leads. She’s rapidly losing hope.
“I’m overwhelmed by the support and dedication people have been showing to get me my towel returned; however, Pittsburgh woke up this morning to 5 inches of snow,” she told BroBible. “The likelihood that the towel is in the trash, the river, the streets, or has been destroyed, is very high and it is heartbreaking.”
@danijelajergan @Buffalo Bills please help me reach this fan. This mean more to me than I can even explain & this is so uncalled for @Pittsburgh Steelers #buffalobills #pittsburgh #football #nfl