Borrowing a line from Kevin Durant’s famous MVP speech, Florida State’s Travis Rudolph “is the real MVP” after a kind gesture has gone viral.
Rudolph and several of his teammates were at Montford Middle School in Tallahassee, and just so happened to be in the cafeteria during lunch time. After looking around the room, Rudolph noticed that a student was sitting all by himself. That didn’t sit well with Rudolph who quickly pulled up a chair right next to him.
Little did Rudolph know what his kind gesture meant to Bo Paske, his family, and everyone who has been touched by this story.
You see, Bo has autism, and sitting alone at lunch is just something that unfortunately happens. But for Rudolph, it was a chance to makes Bo’s day.
Luckily, somebody in the cafeteria was able to get a picture of the two sitting together which was then sent to Bo’s mom, Leah.
Shortly after, Leah wrote about the kind gesture on Facebook which has since been shared more than 15,000 times.
“A friend of mine sent this beautiful picture to me today and when I saw it with the caption “Travis Rudolph is eating lunch with your son” I replied “who is that?” He said “FSU football player”, then I had tears streaming down my face. Travis Rudolph, a wide receiver at Florida State, and several other FSU players visited my sons school today. I’m not sure what exactly made this incredibly kind man share a lunch table with my son, but I’m happy to say that it will not soon be forgotten. This is one day I didn’t have to worry if my sweet boy ate lunch alone, because he sat across from someone who is a hero in many eyes. Travis Rudolph thank you so much, you made this momma exceedingly happy, and have made us fans for life!“
But the story just keeps on getting better.
The whole time Rudolph had no idea what was going until he was told about the Facebook post from Leah. After reading it, Rudolph was almost brought to tears.
Just spoke with #FSU WR Travis Rudolph. He told me he read the mother's post before practice and that it nearly brought tears to his eyes.
— Kenny Morales (@KennyMoralesTV) August 30, 2016
Travis Rudolph: "He's a cool person, I'll hang out with him any day. And for the mom, if he needs my (cell) number, he can get it." #FSU
— Kenny Morales (@KennyMoralesTV) August 30, 2016
But this wasn’t a one-time publicity stunt. Rudolph made sure to keep up on his promise by coming back to school to hang out and surprise Bo once again.
Best. Day. Ever.@TravisRudolph5 surprised Bo Paske with a personalized jersey this morning! pic.twitter.com/79diMkZhtl
— FSU Football (@FSU_Football) September 5, 2016
Rudolph showed up with a personalized Florida State jersey with the No. 15 — Rudolph’s number — on the back as well as the Paske last name.
That wasn’t all.
Rudolph gave the family tickets to the season-opening game against Ole Miss in the sold out venue. FSU went on to win the game 45-34 after coming from 22 points behind for the biggest comeback in school history.
So with that, and speaking in behalf of fans all over the country, we salute you Travis Rudolph on being a great role model, sticking to your commitments and putting a smile on Bo’s face.
