There likely wasn’t a dry eye in the house on Friday night at a NCAA basketball game after one of the players left the court to go hug his ailing father who was on a hospital bed on the concourse.
Max Hooper, a senior on the Oakland Golden Grizzlies, left the court after shaking hands with the Detroit Mercy following a 108-97 win. He had scored 12 points in the win.
Chip Hooper, who has been battling cancer for four years, suffered a debilitating stroke in October and was unable to attend any games this season after promising his son he would be able to before the stroke.
Max Hooper received a call from his father on Thursday that he’d be attending the game on Friday night, travelling from Carmel, California to Rochester, Michigan.
It was Senior Night in Rochester and could have possibly been Max Hooper’s last game. The win ensured them as the No. 2 seed in an upcoming tournament.
“Him being here tonight is such a moment. You can’t replicate this moment. It comes around once in a lifetime. He didn’t promise me but said, ‘I’m going to be at a game.’ I believed he would,” Max told the Detroit Free Press.
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