Another Walk Off Warrior Wish Come True in Cleveland!
After an unforgettable day of making Warrior Wishes Come True in Philadelphia, my dad got a few hours of sleep at the luxurious “Greyhound” Hotel. He arrived in Cleveland around 11:15 AM. The City of Cleveland was abuzz – with the NBA Finals starting tomorrow. Crews were putting up huge banners at the Quicken Loans Arena, stages for watch party and getting the city ready for the big event.
We had hoped that Oklahoma City would have beat Golden State because then the Cavaliers would have had a home game tomorrow. My dad would have stayed in Cleveland to host heroes at Game 1 of NBA Finals…
My dad was honored to be hosting Marine CPL Daniel Hanson and his family at tonights Indians game. CPL Hanson served over 7 years & was deployed on 4 combat tours. Daniel and his family were nominated a couple years ago for a game in Cleveland, but unfortunately did not work out then. Thankfully we keep nominations on file for future games and were happy to finally host them tonight.
My dad met the family for finner courtesy of Hard Rock Cafe. Hard Rock Cafes across the country have been supporting our mission making warrior wishes come true over the past 3 years. We can’t thank them enough!!! The kids favorite part of the mean was eating dinner off the awesome guitar shaped plates.
After dinner, everyone stopped by Quicken Loans Arena to take a quick picture before heading into Progressive Field to watch the Indians take on the Rangers. My dad bought 4 good tickets for the Hanson family & former Cleveland Brown Felix Wright had an extra ticket and offered it to my dad.
My dad bought Felix’ son a hot dog and a drink to thank him for the ticket, and went to sit with the Hanson family. Little did they know that CPL Hanson and the kids have a little surprise coming.
Earlier in the week my dad reached out to the Indians and set up a surprise “seat visit” – in which they bring Gift Bags to their seats. It was so cool to watch as both Daniel and the kids really appreciated this – going through the bag and seeing baseballs and jerseys for the kids, Indians Camo hats for all 4 and much more!!
The game itself was very exciting too – back and forth the entire game and eventually going extra innings. In the bottom of 11th Inning, the Indians got the walkoff win thanks to an RBI single by Gomes. This was the 3rd walkoff win my dad had seen on this 3rd leg of our Battlefields to Ballfields mission.
We want to thank Hard Rock Cafe for their continued support & the Pre Game meal, New Era Cap for the Indians Caps and the Cleveland Indians for Gift Bags/Seat Visit. But most importantly, THANK YOU Marine Corporal Daniel Hanson for your service to our great country!!!
TOGETHER WE MAKE WARRIOR WISHES COME TRUE!
After the game, my dad hopped on another overnight bus to head home &make warrior wishes come true at the Cubs Game. He will also get to sleep in an actual bed tomorrowe & get a much needed break. Stay tuned for details!
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