Twist

High school students accidentally text Tom Brady and Gronk and end up in a FaceTime call

By Positive Thoughts
January 27th, 2023

Out of all the wrong-dialed numbers in the world what are the chances that you’d reached one of your athletic idols?

Probably pretty slim.

But that’s exactly what happened to the freshman boys basketball team at Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy in Pontiac, Michigan.

Twitter Screenshot - P. Jason Whalen Source: Twitter Screenshot - P. Jason Whalen

Jason Whalen, who is a school counselor and whose son is also on the team, said the chance encounter occurred when the team started a group text.

One of the freshmen accidentally typed in a single wrong digit.

Little did they know that this numerical combination was the cell phone number for Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting.

Murphy-Bunting told the kids that he wasn’t the person they were trying to reach, he then asked if the kids knew who he was.

The kids had no idea.

That’s when Murphy-Bunting sent the kids a selfie of himself in the Buccaneers locker room.

“All I hear is my son laughing his a– off, in total disbelief at what is going on,” Whalen said.

But things only escalated from there.

Murphy-Bunting figured he would get his fellow teammates in on the phone call and started a FaceTime before passing the phone around.

The students got to say hello to wide cornerback Richard Sherman and wide receiver Mike Evans.

There was also someone else who wanted to greet the teens.

The students were over the moon when Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski, the former New England Patriots tight end appeared on the screen.

“Naturally the boys are getting greedy now,” Whalen said. They wanted to meet Brady.

But Buccaneers Quarterback Tom Brady was in a meeting.

So, the students got to talk to running back Leonard Fournette for about whole 10 minutes before Brady was available.

Those kids were in their glory when they saw Brady on the other end of the call.

“The boys are absolutely losing it during this. After some time passes he pops up on the screen and says “What’s up fellas?!?!” The boys lose their mind,” Whalen said.

The NFL players said it brought great joy to their day to see the kids so excited.

“They were shocked,” Fournette said of when the students got to see their idol Brady. “I think that’s … to guys in high school, Tom is the figure for them. You know what I mean? Who wouldn’t want to look up to a guy like that?”

“That was fun. That was really fun. It was really good to see all those young kids hyped up,” said Brady.

Whalen said the whole thing was “wild” and he was very grateful his son and his team got to experience the moment.

Whalen shared what happened on Twitter with a few screenshots. Once news outlets started picking up the story, it went viral.

“Shout out to @seanbunting for being a great guy and the rest of the Bucs team for being good people,” one commenter said.

You can check out the original tweet below.

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

Source: P. Jason Whalen, ESPN,

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