Now, here comes the nice part. A girl standing in front of me, probably 20 years old, was waiting in line, and you could tell as she got closer, she got more excited. Tons of people were thrilled to meet Rice, but she stood out in excitement. As she was approaching him at the table, she just mentioned in passing that she drove 7 hours from Virginia Tech just to come meet him, and was driving 7 hours back right after the signing to head back to school.
When she told him this, Rice was stunned. He signed her jersey, took a couple of pictures with her, and then asked if she needed anything else. She only asked him for another picture with her and her dad as well. Ray Rice clearly took that up, but also insisted for her to grab something off of the table for him to sign, cost covered by him.
She just wanted the picture, but Rice insisted once more. He finally took his wallet out of his pocket, and gave his credit card to one of his friends/guards to take her up to the table to pick out something else for both her and her dad. She brought back a helmet, got it signed, and gave him one more hug in a fit of tears of happiness.
Clearly, she was thrilled for this. While this was pocket change for Rice, it made a true fan happy. I've been doing autograph signings for years, and while I've met some great people, no one has ever come close to this small, but meaningful gesture.
I told him I drove 5 minutes just to mess around with him since he was pretty much goofing off all night. He told me I got a picture and a hug. I thanked him both for being kind to me and the girl and he shook my hand and told me "it's all about the fans."
Edited by rmw10, 14 September 2012 - 08:08 PM.
