For Jerry Nudelman and his wife Elinore, the connection with Portland State reached far past regular fandom. The two made this school a family, and Portland State returned the favor as well as they could.

In 2018, Portland State will once again honor Elinore Nudelman at the Walk to Defeat ALS, wearing shirts and holding signs that read "Elinore's Vikings." It is just one way that Portland State gives back to a family whose history with the university goes back decades.

The couple moved to Portland in 1961. Jerry had been working in the dairy business in Texas but travelled up to five days a week for work. He saw the toll it was taking on Elinore, their daughter Jamie and decided to find a new job. He looked first to Atlanta, but Elinore didn't like the heat or the atmosphere of the Georgia city. So he decided to take a trip to the Pacific Northwest. There were new dairy plants all around Portland. He returned back home to Elinore to tell her of the city.

"I told my wife, everything is beautiful here, the flowers and all the trees and the cost of cigarettes is only a dollar forty-five," Jerry remembers. "She said, 'We're moving to Portland.'"

Strangely enough it was racquetball that first connected the Nudelman's and PSU. Jerry played with Mike Tichy, a member of the Portland State Athletics Hall of Fame, and one day in 1986 the new Vikings football coach showed up to play. Pokey Allen and Nudelman became friends and Allen asked him if he had ever played football before.

"I did in high school but my mother made me quit because I got beat up so bad," Nudelman told the football coach. Still, Allen invited him out to practice, where Nudelman didn't hesitate to point out a major problem that he saw.

"The running backs you have don't know how to run," Jerry told Allen. "They are running too straight up." Allen asked Jerry to be his running backs coach. Jerry asked what it would pay. "Nothing," responded Allen. It didn't stop Jerry. He did that for the next two years, becoming a very close friend of Allen's in the process.

They went on to form the 48 Bob Club — "That's a play when the backs come out and the end comes out and blocks," Nudelman says — and began raising money for Portland State athletics. There was a price to get into the club, but Nudelman and the athletics staff gave members of the club shirts and jackets whenever they saw them.

"We always felt that we had to give them something, because every time they turned around we had our hands out," Nudelman said of the early fundraising process.

The Nudelmans and Portland State became inseparable. Jerry and Elinore started going to more than just football games. They attended men's and women's basketball, volleyball, softball and other sports over the years.

Elinore would occasionally travel with the football team when Allen was the head coach. An entire football team would be considered intimidating company by some, but Elinore felt right at home. She had her own guard, a group of five or six players that would stay with her when they were on the road.

She got to know the players through this process, and enjoyed the chances that she had to travel with the team.

Jerry is now 95, but he still loves Portland State athletics. He doesn't get to many athletic events these days, but stays connected to the university. He asked about the football team, new coaches, where the team was going to play home games this season and much more.

He was sore from his morning workout. "They make us do aerobics while we lift weights," he said. He also does yoga, although he uses a walker to help with transportation.

In 2003, Elinore Nudelman was diagnosed with ALS, "a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord," according to ALS.org. As nerve cells begin to break down the muscles that they control begin to lose function. There is no known cause or cure, but the condition can be slowed with treatment.

When Elinore was diagnosed, the Oregon and Southwest Washington Chapter of the ALS Association was relatively new. Other chapters had hosted walks to raise money, which seemed like something they could do in Portland. They started the walk in 2002 at PCC Sylvania. A couple hundred people showed up. It was eventually moved to the Park Blocks, where Elinore's Vikings first came out to support in 2004.

Jerry and Elinore were there that year. Elinore, in her wheelchair, smiled as she posed for a picture with the Portland State football team. Having that much support meant a lot to a family that had helped the university so much.

Lance Christian, the Executive Director or The ALS Association Oregon and SW Washington Chapter, has been there since the beginning of the walk. Christian knew Elinore and continues to have a relationship with Jerry and his daughter and son-in-law Jamie and Mike Anderson.

"(Elinore's) concern for others and kindness was apparent to all that met her," Christian said. "Elinore's husband Jerry is the epitome of graciousness and positive support. Both Elinore and Jerry felt they had privileges that allowed them to cope with ALS and live life. They were always eager to show support that would help others who did not have the same resources to cope with this devastating diagnosis."

He noted that the Portland State team greatly helped the visibility of the event by showing up in those early years. When there are football and basketball players, as well as teams from many other sports, showing up, people take note.

"Right away in 2004 the PSU athletic department came out in force to The Walk to Defeat ALS to show their support for the Nudelmans," Christian said. "Each year all of our community supporters look forward to seeing the green clad PSU athletes adding energy and enthusiasm to raise awareness of ALS. PSU athletics has been an electric partner for the Walk the Defeat ALS for more than 13 years."

The Vikings continue to come back every year, representing Elinore and helping to raise money and support everyone else with the disease. The event has grown significantly from the first years at the Park Blocks. As new teams joined the event to raise money, it outgrew its location. The first walk had about 200 people, according to Christian. Now over 2,500 people come out yearly to support the walk.

One of the constants at the walk is seeing all the Portland State athletes and staff there. Elinore's Vikings. Elinore Nudelman died in 2005, but her memory remains at Portland State with those that walk those three miles every September. To those that knew Elinore best, the support the family still receives means so much.

"She loved Portland State," her daughter Jamie Anderson said. "She used to participate in everything. She would have been thrilled, just delighted at how it's grown. It would make her proud."

If you would like more information or would like to donate to Elinore's Vikings and help raise money to find a cure for ALS, click here.