Brothers Jed and Josh Mottley believe finding the jacket after all these years is a message from their mom, who died nine years ago.
In 1994, money was tight for Jed Mottley and his family, and his single mom couldn’t afford the varsity football letterman jacket that he ordered, which was about $300.
“Every week I’d say, ‘Hey can we go grab the jacket?’ And it’d be like, ‘Oh, Next week.’ And here’s the thing, I was so embarrassed about it. I didn’t tell anybody,” Mottley said.
Mottley never did pick it up, but nearly three decades later, he finally got his jacket when his brother Josh happened to stumble upon it in a thrift store in Arizona.
A thousand jackets were donated to the store by the business owner who made them for the school.
“He goes, ‘Is there any chance I’m looking at your letterman jacket?’ I go, ‘No man, I don’t know if you remember, but mom couldn’t afford to pay for it and we never picked it up,’” Jed said.
Josh took a picture of the jacket, which said Jed’s name and “WR1” for wide receiver, and Jed started “freaking out.”
The brothers both believe the jacket is a message from their mom, who died nine years ago.
“Is this divine intervention? I don’t know. It’s really fun to think about,” Jed said.
“I think she would be freaking out right now, just the fact that we’re on Inside Edition. So it feels like this is her,” Josh said.