Fred Grooms Sr. had never watched his son play a high school football game before. My NBC 15 reports Fred has been deployed to Kuwait for over a year. His son Fred Jr was about to finish his freshman year at Helena HS in Alabama. Sr asked his commander if he could end his deployment 2 weeks early in order to see his son's final game. Once that happened he decided to go all out for a surprise reunion. He bought a referee uniform and asked one of the officials to lay back while he went out for the coin toss.
Junior didn't notice his father at the coin toss. Thankfully the head ref thought quick and told the players to look each of the refs in the eyes. Then you can see him recognize his dad and jump into his arms. Senior says “It was overwhelming. My son isn’t the outwardly emotional type. He’s the one who won’t hug you, kiss you. So for him to hug me as tight as he did last night was really something special.”