Dan Angst has walked up and down a lot of stairs in the past three years, and he’s always ended up in the same place.

The former Nesquehoning resident of 42 years and Panther Valley High School graduate has been a stadium usher for some of the most prestigious sporting events and music concerts in the state of Arizona where he now lives.

Tonight, he will be checking tickets and directing fans to their seats at the Fiesta Bowl, the site of a College Football Playoff game between Penn State and Boise State.

“When I moved to Paradise Valley just outside of Phoenix, I brought with me a resume that got me hired to this company that provides the personnel to manage large events,” he said.

Angst’s parents had owned a radio station, WLSH 1410 AM, out of Lansford.

“We published a weekly newspaper and I was its sports editor” he said. “My media background helped me get hired by the Phoenix Suns of the NBA.”

Although working for the Suns is his regular job, Angst has ushered at multiple venues and has been privy to watch some spectacular events.

“I worked Super Bowl LVII between the Eagles and the Chiefs,” he said. “To this day, that would be at the top of the events I have experienced.”

For the Super Bowl, the NFL hires all the game management people, who must first pass Homeland Security checks and be trained before they are issued official credentials badges.

“I also got to watch the teams practice all week and I was given permission to attend Media Day where all the players and coaches are interviewed for the press and television stories,” Angst said.

Just this year, the 62-year-old ushered at the championship game of the NCAA Basketball Tournament in Glendale, Arizona, between Purdue and Connecticut, which was won by UConn.

“In all my events, I get assigned to a section of the venue,” Angst said. “My section at that game was 88 rows that went all the way down to courtside.”

After he checks tickets and helps people find their seat, Angst gets to watch the event.

“How about this?” he said. “I watch the games for free while anyone sitting courtside had paid $25,000 for a ticket.”

Other major events he has worked were the 2023 World Series between the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix, and the World Baseball Classic in the same year, also held at Chase Field.

This year’s Fiesta Bowl will be his third.

“Next year, I’ll get to work the semifinal game of the college football playoffs and in 2026, I’ll be doing the championship game,” he said.

Angst said he hasn’t had any problems with fans.

“There have been some who have tried to sneak in at some events,” he said, “but if I should suspect that I just turn the problem over to the security people.”

On the music scene, he has ushered at concerts for Madonna, Metallica, Beyoncé, Rhianna and the Rolling Stones, but none that received more media hype than Taylor Swift, who performed in Glendale for two nights in mid-March of 2023.

“One night I ushered up in the top level and another was at stage front,” Angst said. “She had rehearsed her show for the good part of a month before her concert nights and she had all the windows of the stadium covered in black to keep her privacy. There were 69,000 fans each night of her shows, and even my nieces got to attend.”

Angst has also worked the WNBA All-Star Basketball Game, top soccer games and at the spring training site for the champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Of all the venues that he has been assigned, his favorite place is the Footprint Center, home of the Phoenix Suns.

“I just love the game of basketball, and NBA stars Kevin Durant and Devon Booker live nearby and practice at the Suns’ training facility,” he said.

The simple act of checking tickets has opened an exciting world for Angst, one that has prompted him to say, “I’m living my sports dream.”