TALLAHASSEE, FL (RNN) - Traditional Senior Day celebrations in sports involve an athlete walking with parents across the playing surface in a pregame ceremony while the public address announcer reads career accomplishments.
Traditional wasn’t an option for Florida State’s Braian Angola, or so he thought. Nearly 2,000 miles separated him from his mother, Ofelia Rodas Orozco, who lives in the small Colombian town Villanueva, Casanare.
Even so, Angola’s friends and family made sure Orozco would be there for her son’s final home game in a Seminole’s uniform. They even managed to execute their plan without Angola suspecting a thing.
Angola last talked to his mother Friday when she told him to play hard, have fun and call her after the game.
That same day, Orozco made the eight-hour drive to the nearest airport in Bogotá. She flew to Miami and then to Tallahassee to surprise Angola at the game.
Angola’s girlfriend, who plays basketball professionally in Europe, flew in to accompany him to center-court during the ceremony. Two of his junior college coaches flew in from Idaho to support him as well.
His sisters congratulated him on his big day in a pre-recorded video that played as he stood there holding his framed FSU jersey.
Given the distance between Angola and his family, the video was about all he could expect. But then the PA announcer told him the school had one more surprise for him.
As soon as the PA said the words “she’s flown in from Colombia,” Angola began to look around the arena. When he laid eyes on his mother, they filled with tears.
When you fly in from Colombia to surprise your son on his Senior Day@Angola2411 pic.twitter.com/7aZBEVIYD0
— FSU Men's Hoops (@FSUHoops) March 3, 2018
“When I saw her, I just couldn’t hold it in,” Angola said. “I just started crying.”
The two shared a tearful embrace at center-court as the crowd showered them with applause.
As for the game, FSU beat Boston College 85-76. Angola finished tied for the team-high in points with 21.
“It was obvious that it was very emotional for him to have all the people who mean a lot to him being there,” head coach Leonard Hamilton said. “There’s no doubt that he appreciated the effort of his junior college coaches and his girlfriend, in the middle of their season, coming over here and then obviously to top it off his mother was here. So, he was very happy.”
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