Basketball star Dwyane Wade is in his final season. All season long he's been collecting jerseys from other players during his farewell tour to decorate the wall of his house. Before he says goodbye completely, Budweiser surprised him with five more jerseys to add to that collection.
Wade starts out in a dark, abandoned basketball court. He has no idea who could be coming, whose jersey he's about to receive. I'll bet he wasn't expecting four ordinary people to come before him, each one carrying their own personal jersey.
One of them was the sister of a Parkland shooting victim. Wade famously wrote her brother's name, Joaquin Oliver, on the heel of his shoe for a game. She presented Wade with the jersey her brother wore for his last championship game.
Another was a woman whose house burned down just 10 days before Christmas. Wade took her and her family on a shopping spree. She gave him a homemade shirt.
A man whose life was going down a dark path turned himself around after hearing Wade's inspiring words. He presented Wade with the blazer he wore to his first job interview.
A woman who wanted to go to college but couldn't afford it was saved by Wade's organization. They gave her a full-tuition scholarship and she gave him her cap and gown from graduation.
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Lastly, Wade's own mother, Jolinda Wade, came forward. She had struggled with addiction and had gone to prison. But with her son's help she was able to turn her whole life around.
"Your momma went down a road, Dwyane, that I didn't ever think I'd come back from," she said, taking a breath to steady herself. "But on that road I noticed you kept showing up... And Dwyane, because you believed in me, when I got out of prison, I was a different woman." She gave her son the purple preacher's robe she received when he bought her her own church.
His mother closes the ad with these heartfelt words:
“I am more proud of the man you have become than the basketball player. You are bigger than basketball.”
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