It wasn’t about the shoes, it was about the gesture. About one friend doing something small, yet significant, for another.
But everyone who was at Quinton’s Bar and Deli in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, that day remembers the smile on Jack Hoeger’s face, the genuine joy he got from slipping Matt Nelson’s size-16 cleats onto his much smaller feet.
Nelson, the Detroit Lions right tackle, and his wife, Hayley, befriended the Hoeger family through the Easy Riders, a local bicycle riding club in Cedar Rapids. Hayley’s father is an avid cyclist, and Nelson, all 6 feet 7 and 315 pounds, has dabbled in the sport since college.