Two Benchmark Senior Living residents are part of a group of older adults whose friendship provides the backdrop for a recently released star-studded Hollywood movie.
“80 for Brady” hit theaters last month and stars Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno, Jane Fonda and Sally Field, among others. It tells the story of five longtime friends and New England Patriots football fans who embark on a trip to Super Bowl LI in 2017 to watch former Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady take on the Atlanta Falcons.
Brady mounted a historic Super Bowl comeback during the game, beating the Falcons 34-28 in overtime despite trailing 28-3 in the third quarter.
Although the movie embellishes their story — they never made it to a Super Bowl — the women did organize an “Over 80 for Brady” fan club that inspired the movie.
Two of the club members — Pat Marx and Anita Riccio — live in Benchmark Senior Living memory care communities. Marx moved into The Village at Willow Crossings in Mansfield, MA, in 2021, and Riccio moved into The Branches of North Attleboro in North Attleboro, MA, in 2018.
Marx and her husband, Ed, first moved to North Attleboro, MA, in the early 1950s, according to Benchmark. Ed was a chemistry teacher and head football coach at North Attleboro High School. It was through football that Marx met Betty Pensavelle, whose husband Conrad established the town’s youth football program.
The wives became fast friends and eventually invited fellow football fans Riccio, Claire Boardman and Elaine St. Martin into their circle. The couples attended football games and other social gatherings together, and their children also formed their own friend group.
Over the years, the women supported each other through college dropoffs of their children, divorces and the deaths of their husbands. They also supported Pat Marx through multiple battles with cancer.
After their husbands passed, the women took turns hosting football watch parties at their homes, bonding over their love for the Patriots and their quarterback. Pensavelle’s grandson Ben had “Over 80 for Brady” t-shirts for the friends to commemorate their shared love of football — and each other.
Riccio and Marx eventually moved into Benchmark communities, and Boardman passed away in 2022. A spokeswoman for Benchmark said the staff at each community work diligently to keep the two connected to their many interests — Marx “is very much into anything having to do with music and singing” and Riccio enjoys music, singing and a wide variety of games and social activities.
During football season, the spokeswoman said, the staff bring out the women’s “80 for Brady” shirts “to remind them of this special time in their lives.”
Pensavelle and St. Martin — now in their 90s and still living on their own — continue to meet at their homes to watch Patriots football during the season. They recently told Time magazine they were “angry” with Brady for leaving the Patriots but “still have a lot of love for him.” The Benchmark spokeswoman said the five continued to get together for some time until health issues got in the way and made visits more difficult or impossible.
Pensavelle’s grandson Max Gross, a Hollywood talent agent at WME, was the one to pitch the idea to his company — a pitch that eventually made its way to Lily Tomlin, one of the stars and represented by WME, according to The Washington Post. Brady took it on as his first project under his new production company, 199 Productions. Once he knew the movie would go into production, Gross arranged for Brady to record a video message with the news, which Gross shared with his grandmother on Easter Sunday in 2020.
Although the women never met Brady — or any of the cast members — Paramount Pictures, which bought the rights to the film, arranged for a private screening in December for Pensavelle and St. Martin and their families at the theater adjacent to Gillette Stadium, home of the Patriots.
