When you’re one of five boys under the same roof, you learn to deal with a few hand-me-downs now and again, but when the Calgary Flames spotted the handcrafted jersey of one small fan, the team wanted to do something about it.
Eton Miles was out with his brothers when a friend of Kristin Hallet, the host of Flames TV, met the young boy and took a photo of the unique Sean Monahan jersey his older brothers made him out of a white t-shirt and a magic marker.
“My best friend was in the mall and saw Eton walking with a band of boys wearing this t-shirt. So she snapped a picture and sent it to me just for some laughs and it just grabbed at my heart.”
Hallet said she knew then that she had to find him.
“I put it out to Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and the city just went wild over it. Everybody wanted to find him.”
The boys were soon found and invited to the Flames’ practice on Sunday for a tour of the dressing room and a meet and greet with the Flames themselves.
“Eton is the youngest of the five so when she let me know that, I had to call up Brent Gibbs, who is in merchandising and I’m like, buddy, you’re going to need to go and pull some more jerseys,” Hallet said.
On Sunday morning, Eton and his elder brothers got their just desserts, and brand new threads from their heroes on the squad.
Sean Monahan says that it’s always a thrill for him to make the dreams of young fans come true.
“When I was a kid, I mean you have your idols and the guys you look up to in pro sports. To be able to do that at this point in my career, it’s always fun.”
Eton says he’s happy with his new shirt, but says he’s still going to hang onto the old one that got him all the attention in the first place.
(With files from Bill Macfarlane)
