‘Mr. BYU’: Former chain crew member Keith Howard Mason honored to light ‘Y’
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- Keith Mason, center, poses on the football field for a photo with his daughter, Marilee Mason (left) and granddaughter Briauna Mason. Keith Mason was a member of the BYU chain crew at football game for 53 years and will light the Y before the start of the BYU-UCF game at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025.
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- Keith Mason was a member of the BYU football chain crew for 53 years and attended 372 consecutive Cougar games. Mason will light the Y before the start of the BYU-UCF game at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025.
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- Keith Mason, right, and Kenny Nielsen pose for a photo. Mason, a member of the BYU chain crew at football game for 53 years, will light the Y before the start of the BYU-UCF game at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025.
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- Keith Mason, who was a member of the BYU football chain crew for 53 years, poses for a photo at a game. Mason will light the Y before the start of the BYU-UCF game at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025.
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- Keith Mason (left), who was a member of the BYU football chain crew for 53 years, poses for a photo with former Cougar quarterback John Beck (center). Mason will light the Y before the BYU-UCF game at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025.
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- Keith Mason, who was a member of the BYU football chain crew for 53 years, poses for a photo at a Cougar game. Mason, will light the Y before the start of the BYU-UCF game at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025.
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- Keith Mason, right, and wife Loreli Howells Mason. Keith Mason, a member of the BYU football chain crew for 53 years, will light the Y before the start of the BYU-UCF game at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025.
As a member of the BYU football chain crew for 53 years, Keith Howard Mason was rained on, snowed on, stepped on and occasionally run over.
He desperately loved every single moment.
Mason, now 89 years old, has made BYU football a major part of his life since the 1950’s when he attended the school and eventually became a member of the chain crew in 1963. He attended 372 straight home games over a 62-year span.
On Saturday, Mason will be honored by the university he loves and granted the privilege of lighting the “Y” before the start of Saturday’s BYU-UCF game at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
“My dad is very humble,” his daughter, Merilee Mason, said. “He wasn’t try to break a record. He was just very dedicated. He would always say, ‘I can’t miss a game, I can’t let my boys down.'”
Keith Howard Mason was born in May of 1936 and grew up loving sports, especially football and baseball. He attended Lincoln High (later it would become Orem High) and served in the Korean War. He married Miss Orem 1954, Loreli Howells Mason, and went on to attend BYU, finishing second in his class in accounting. He worked for many years as an IRS agent.
Keith Mason had some friends in BYU athletics and in 1963 submitted an application to be on the chain crew at football games. He got the job and spent the next 53 years running up and down the sideline at Cougar games, rain or shine.
During one game, he was knocked flat by players running toward the sidelines.
“We used to joke that he was a magnet for that,” Merilee Mason said. “After that he would throw his flag down and yell ‘Get out of the way!’ The commentators on TV would see the ball go near the sideline and say, ‘Run, Keith, run!'”
Merilee Mason said during another game, her father stopped breathing for a moment on the sideline and was attended to by paramedics near the concessions stand.
“They said, ‘Keith, what are you doing, are you sick?’ And he said, ‘Get me back to the game, I’m missing it.'”
In 2005, the whole eight-man crew was honored at a game and they lit the ‘Y’ as they said “so long” to their duties.
“It broke his heart when they replaced the whole chain gang,” Merilee Mason said.
Keith Mason continued to attend BYU football games with his family and for the past nine years has been a fixture on the west side of the stadium next to where the cheerleaders work, in his wheelchair supporting his team.
Merliee Mason said she’s been trying to get her father recognized for 13 years, but BYU Athletics said he had already been honored with the chain crew in 2005.
“I told them, ‘You don’t understand,” Merilee Mason said. “He wasn’t just on the chain gang. He never missed a game. They called him ‘Mr. BYU’ because he’s their biggest fan. He just had to attend every game.
“My dad had an aneurysm before he started attending BYU in the fall of 1963. After his surgery, he started working for BYU that fall on the chain crew. The doctors advised him not to do it but he never stopped.”
Various health issues finally ended Keith Mason’s game attendance streak this year and he’s been watching BYU football at home with his daughter, who became his caregiver when her mother passed in 2002.
Merilee Mason, who majored in psychology at BYU, also attended Provo High with current Cougar Director of Athletics Brian Santiago.
“I contacted Brian and told him, ‘my dad doesn’t have long, please honor him this year,'” Merilee Mason said. “Brian took it to the committee and now Dad gets to light the Y. It’s such a high honor and we’re so grateful. Besides church and family, BYU is one of the most important things in my dad’s life.
“He believed in inspiring young people, lifting up adults, and touching lives wherever he could. His hope is simple and beautiful: that everyone might find something to be passionate about — something worth showing up for, staying committed to, and giving their whole heart to.
“If his story inspires even one person to embrace loyalty, faith, devotion, or the pursuit of a dream, then Keith’s legacy continues — living on in the same spirit he carried through every game, every season, and every moment of his remarkable life.”
