ANNA MARIA – Duncan Real Estate owner Darcie Duncan’s hard work and good deeds have earned her two tickets to the Super Bowl.
Featuring the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, Super Bowl LIX will be played at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday, Feb. 9. Kickoff is at 6:30 p.m. and Duncan, an Anna Maria resident and business owner, will be there.
On Jan. 9, Duncan received a call from a Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ representative who asked her to visit the AdventHealth Training Center at the team’s One Buc Place headquarters in Tampa the following day to receive an unspecified award. Duncan was not told the award included two Super Bowl tickets, which came as a surprise to her and the two other award winners, Tampa Bay Billboards owner Troy Stevenson and Chef Gaston Meredith of Gaston’s Culinary Services. The Bucs treated the award recipients to lunch and Duncan received a football autographed by Bucs’ wide receiver Mike Evans.
Later that day, Duncan posted a Facebook message that said, in part, “Today, I learned the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Glazer family reached out to the Tampa Bay Area looking for three small business owners who assisted in hurricane relief. No idea that I had been nominated by the Manatee Chamber of Commerce. I’m going to Super Bowl 2025. I’m beyond grateful. Thank you so much for this incredible gift.”
In their Jan. 28 press release, the Bucs and the Glazer family formally announced the Super Bowl ticket recipients: “Earlier this month, the Glazer family, owners of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, recognized three deserving community members for their extraordinary efforts following hurricanes Helene and Milton. Local chambers of commerce were asked to nominate small business owners who went above and beyond to support the Tampa Bay region in the aftermath of the hurricanes.”
The press release also says, “Darcie Duncan, of Duncan Real Estate, put her community first through a number of different efforts. Following Hurricane Helene, Darcie mobilized her team and activated a new Facebook group, Anna Maria Island Hurricane Relief, that quickly became the central hub for sharing vital information related to storm recovery needs. This group has attracted more than 8,000 members and has been instrumental in coordinating relief efforts across both in her immediate neighborhood as well as all of Anna Maria Island.”
The press release notes Duncan played a critical role in transforming The Center of Anna Maria Island into a hurricane relief distribution site and she was a driving force behind The Center’s Rock ‘N’ Support hurricane relief concert and grant program and the “Let’s Give Thanks Together” Thanksgiving dinner.
When speaking to The Sun on Feb. 1, Duncan said, “I am so humbled to be chosen among so many deserving individuals.”
When asked which team she’ll be rooting for, Duncan said, “I would have loved to be rooting for the Bucs. Then it was the (Buffalo) Bills, so now it’s ‘Fly Eagles Fly.’ I am taking my sweetie, Alex Harllee. He and I have been a great team and he is just as deserving. I love football . This has been a bucket list item for me and I am so excited.”
At their own expense, Duncan and Harllee will fly to New Orleans on Thursday and spend Super Bowl weekend in New Orleans.
“It’s the same weekend I planned to move back into my house in Anna Maria, ”she said of the hurricane-damaged home she and Harllee share.
On Feb. 27, Duncan will receive the Pat Glass Community Leadership Award from the Manatee Tiger Bay Club.
