NFL Week 1 live updates: Highlights, analysis, news, observations and more

CHICO, Calif. — Years ago, Dennis Wallen was driving through Marysville, about 40 minutes south of Chico, when he spotted an old, torn up bicycle leaned up against a storefront. An avid fan of “American Pickers,” he’s always on the lookout for undiscovered treasures, especially bikes. The owner had bought this one — an antique 1940 Hawthorne, now enveloped in rust — for $50 years earlier but never really used it. Wallen felt the bike had “good bones” and “special potential” even though, by his estimation, it hadn’t been ridden in 80 years. He had a vision for it, to honor a local hero with its design. So he bought it for $220 and took it home. Then, he went to work.

First, he chipped off bolts that were rusted in place. Then he widened handlebars that were so narrow it was difficult to get off the bike once you’d gotten on — “it was a death trap.” Then he painted it green and yellow and screwed in a Green Pay Backers helmet on top of the back wheel.

“I watched Aaron Rodgers all through his career at Cal,” said Wallen, 64. “I went to Cal games, for two years I watched Cal go 15 yards, 20 yards, 30 yards, and then score. I was not used to that. It was amazing. We’re moving the ball, we tied for the Pac-10 championship, that’s how good he was. Then when he went to Green Bay, I went full Green Bay.”

On a recent August morning, Wallen took a short ride down the street and parked it in front of a local bookstore, called The Bookstore, a trip he takes most mornings to catch up with his friend Mike. It’s a store that almost went under in 2021.

Around the corner, there’s a barbecue joint Rodgers used to frequent with his parents, best known for their ribs and brisket. The owner, Scott McLeod, gets choked up when he thinks about the dire state of his restaurant three years ago. “We didn’t know what we were going to do. We were down to the wire where we didn’t know if we were going to make it.”

A few doors down is Naked Lounge, known for its quirky furniture and live music. One of Rodgers’ favorite coffee shops, he once appeared in a music video with a former owner of the shop.

The three businesses share one thing in common: During the COVID-19 pandemic, when things were at their worst, it was Rodgers who stepped in to save them, providing an infusion of money that enabled each to make ends meet.

“He covered our rent, our labor and our electricity for three months” in 2021, McLeod said.

Brandon Squyres, owner of Naked Lounge: “We couldn’t do it without him helping us. We would’ve shut down.”

Rodgers hasn’t been back to his hometown in a long time, yet his fingerprints are all over it.

Read more on Rodgers here.