Nov. 23 (UPI) — An Arizona man who was unable to pay for the letterman jacket he ordered as a high school student in the 1990s was finally able to bring the jacket home after his brother spotted it at a thrift store.
Jed Mottley, who graduated in 1994 from Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, said he ordered a letterman jacket when he was a varsity football player at the school 28 years ago, but when it came time to pick it up, his mother was unable to pay for it.
“She always wanted us to have everything, but we just couldn’t get it with everything we were going through at the time,” Mottley told KNXV-TV.
Mottley said he never got to see the jacket in person, until a recent phone call from his brother, Josh, who was shopping at the Veterans Village thrift store in Pinetop.
“He calls and says, ‘Jed, was there any other Jeds in Chaparral in 1994?’ I said, ‘Nah, just one.’ I looked down. He said, ‘Dude, I just sent you this picture of your jacket.’ I couldn’t believe it,” Mottley said.
The jacket was embroidered with Jed’s name and “Class of 1994.”
Josh Mottley bought the jacket for $25, a sharp discount from the $300-$400 that it was priced at in the 1990s.
The brothers said they feel the discovery is a sign from their mother, Gerry, who died in 2012.
“My mom was like, ‘If I ever go, I’m going to send signals.’ I was like, ‘Where are these signals mother?’ This was it!” Josh Mottley told KTVK/KPHO.