As the state roots for the green and gold, many in Burlington watching Tony Romo and the Cowboys



BURLINGTON (WITI) -- Several Dallas Cowboys players grew up in Wisconsin -- including QB Tony Romo. While the state bled green and gold on Sunday, January 11th as the Packers faced the Cowboys in a playoff matchup at Lambeau Field, the small town of Burlington had one major reason to wear Cowboys blue.

It's no surprise that in a state that oozes green and gold, the town of Burlington, Wisconsin has another allegiance.

"Well Lambeau might be a couple of hours away, however, Burlington is home to Tony Romo," Shelly Leverenz with Burlington Menswear said.

"My boys are Packers fans, and this is our home town and Tony does a lot for our town," a Burlington resident said.

"He's the nicest young man you can possibly meet," Fred Mabson, with Fred's Parkview in Burlington said.

"I grew up rooting for the Packers, and it's going to be a big game. It's going to be important to a lot of people," Tony Romo said.

Tony Romo grew up in Burlington and went to Burlington High School -- and he wasn't just a football star.

"He's the leading scorer in basketball here in our school," Steve Berezowitz said.

During Steve Berezowitz's first year as head basketball coach, he met a special player.

"He wasn't blessed with great speed, so we worked on things to get faster.  He wasn't, you know, blessed with this natural ability to throw the ball, so we worked on his technique on throwing the ball and shooting," Berezowitz said.

On the football field, Romo wasn't the starting quarterback until his junior year, but once he began slinging the ball, everyone knew he was unique.

"My senior year that was the first year we started playing together so to develop chemistry that quickly, you know, was something pretty special," Steve Tenhagen said.

Steve Tenhagen grew up with Romo. You can say he was the original Dez Bryant. Well, maybe not, but he was Romo's main receiver.

"I don't know that you ever know when you're in high school how good somebody could be.  As you watch him progress at Eastern Illinois and as you watch him progress in the NFL I can't say that I'm surprised that he's playing at the level he's at right now," Tenhagen said.

To say the town of Burlington loves Tony Romo, well that's an understatement.

"It's Packers country so you know the story is the Packers," Berezowitz said.

But not this week, when Romo led the Cowboys onto Lambeau Field.

"I don't know how tight it's going to be on Sunday now, you know. I think there's gonna be a lot of people that are living in the city limits that are going to be rooting for the Packers but, you know, we'll definitely have our group of us that will be rooting for the Cowboys.  You know, we're Packers fans at heart, but we're definitely going to root for our guy," Tenhagen said.