The Legend of The BoatsMan
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by Andy Seeley
The BoatsMan wasn’t always The BoatsMan. In fact, until a life-changing health scare, he was simply Jeremy Elkins, a Memphis native with a fondness for football and a knack for perseverance. But when the Memphis Showboats re-entered the football universe, something sparked inside him that transformed him from a football fan to a Memphis Showboats superfan.
It began in the summer of 2021, when Elkins found himself gasping for air. Initial visits to doctors saw his condition misdiagnosed as allergy-induced asthma. But when he was still having a great deal of trouble breathing months later, a second opinion revealed the issue. His aortic valve had torn, and his chest cavity was filling with fluid.
“The doctor there basically saved my life,” Elkins recalls. “They calmly called my wife to the back, and I knew at that point, it just got real.”
By September 2022, Elkins underwent open-heart surgery to repair the damage.
Emerging from recovery, Elkins made a vow.
“Life’s too short,” he declared. “I’m gonna live it up, I’m gonna live life to the fullest. I’m gonna have fun.”
A Lifelong Bond Reignited
Elkins’ love for the Showboats began in the 1980s, during the team’s original USFL run. He lived in Memphis just before the team began playing there, but his family moved to Texas.
He was still able to attend a few Showboats games when he came back to Memphis to visit his grandmother and fell in love with the team and its fans. When the USFL folded in the 1980s, those memories simply faded and he moved on with his life, which included a move back to Memphis years later.
In November 2022, while recovering from surgery, Elkins heard the news: the Tampa Bay Bandits were relocating to Memphis, reviving the Showboats.
“It was like the sky opened up,” he said. “It felt like a light shone down upon me and said, ‘You wanted them, you got them.’”
The timing was serendipitous. Elkins, freshly resolved to embrace life’s joys, saw an opportunity to do just that. What began as a simple desire to get a new replica helmet and attend Showboats games quickly grew into something larger.
From Showboats Fan to The BoatsMan
At first, Elkins sought only a replica helmet to pair with his vintage Showboats gear. But when the craftsman who created the helmet suggested wearing it to games, Elkins had an epiphany. “I thought, ‘Yeah, I could do that.’”
He then started thinking about what else he could wear. A jersey? Sure! A kilt? Well, his wife talked him out of that one.
“She was like, ‘Please don't do that,’" Elkins laughed.
So he added a jersey and eventually it became a full football uniform.
The persona quickly became a sensation. Clad in his Showboats armor, The BoatsMan became a fixture at home games, leading chants, posing for photos with kids, and hyping the crowd.
“I couldn’t get over how many kids wanted pictures with me,” Elkins says. “And if it wasn’t the kids, it was their parents, or even random guys saying, ‘Hey bro, come here, let’s get a shot.’”
It wasn’t long before the fans gave him his moniker.
“This summer, I got hit with the nickname The BoatsMan by the Yacht Club, and I thought, ‘There you go, that’s it.’”
The BoatsMan was born.
Spreading the Showboats Spirit
Elkins’ enthusiasm extends beyond the stadium. When he’s not donning the BoatsMan persona, he’s Jeremy Elkins, a Showboats fan who wears team swag almost daily and hands out Boatsman stickers and talks about the team to anyone willing to listen.
"When people start talking to me about the Showboats, I'll hand them stickers and I go, 'Look for this guy while you're there,’” he says. “And they're like, 'Who's that?' I say, 'His name's The BoatsMan. Seek him out in the stands. You'll see him. He'll be the one screaming and going nuts at the games.' And then finally one of them will go, 'Is that you?'"
Elkins follows that question up with a knowing nod or a little wink.
For Elkins, the Showboats are more than a team—they’re a metaphor for life’s second chances. With the second run of the Memphis Showboats, Elkins simply hopes more Memphis-area football fans learn to love the Showboats even half as much as he does.
"Embrace the team and I promise you, they'll do exactly that in return,” Elkins said. “If people will just give it a chance, and come on out, embrace the team, embrace the league, embrace the sport, embrace these players. You'll get back tenfold what you give them."
And all those fans who want to pose for pictures with The BoatsMan? They may just get some more unique opportunities to pose with him in the 2025 season.
"I've got some surprises,” Elkins said. “Let's just say there's a plethora of surprises and I'll be ready for every game.”