Just before Tennessee State took on top-ranked North Carolina on Tuesday night, they had a surprise visitor in their locker room. One particular player, freshman M.J. Rhett, was more thrilled to see the surprise guest than anyone else in the room. That’s because it was Rhett’s mother, Stephanie Rhett, who is a sergeant in the Army National Guard and had been serving in Iraq since August. Check out this video of Stephanie surprising her son, courtesy of The Dagger:
“When I saw her, I was in disbelief,” Rhett said after the game, a 102-69 loss that seemed to be of lesser importance. “I hadn’t seen her in so long and I hadn’t talked to her in the past three or four days. I didn’t have any clue what was going on and I was getting a little worried how she was doing. But when she popped up in the locker room, I was shocked and relieved.”
Stephanie is home from Iraq for two weeks, meaning M.J. and the Rhett family will be able to spend Thanksgiving together. At halftime, she was introduced to the UNC crowd and the video above was shown on the video board. North Carolina fans gave her a standing ovation.
We’ve seen seen plenty of military support across the sports world with football gear like this and hockey masks like this, but it’s nice to see a solider return home to see her family and get the praise she deserves.
