PARKER CITY, Ind. — On Memorial Day weekend in 2014, John Hochstetler invited Dustin Brown, a rising freshman football player, to meet one of his idols – except he didn’t tell him that’s where they were going.
After having dinner at Hochstetler’s house with his family, Hochstetler and Brown broke away from the group and drove to the childhood house of Ryan Kerrigan, the Central star turned NFL Pro-Bowler. Brown was sworn to secrecy; if other players found out Brown got to privately meet Kerrigan, they would want the same opportunity.
The first time Hochstetler met Brown, he didn’t know him from Adam.