As Vince Kunaseck left Memorial Stadium after last Saturday's Husker win over Illinois, he walked out with a wish in his heart and a hat left behind in the stands.
The hat belonged to his cousin and best friend, Paul Renninger, who had passed away shortly after the Ohio State game the week before. The wish was that someone could get that very hat to Coach Scott Frost, have him sign it and mail it back to Renninger’s family.
The wish took its first step when Christian Reese-Newquist found the hat. "We were cleaning up the stadium and at first I was like 'Free hat! Cool,’” Christian said. “But then I picked it up and there was a note under it." The student worker said, “It was pretty sad."
The hat and note were left in what had been Renninger's seat for every Husker gameday. Reese-Newquist took it with him and shared what he'd found with his friend. "I had my roommate tweet it out and, it blew up - blew up overnight."
Kunaseck said, "I woke up Monday morning with a message from a kid I didn't know that said he was gonna do everything he can to make this happen."
Then, it happened. On Tuesday, Kunaseck, Reese-Newquist and Renninger's hat all made their way to Coach Frost who signed it for the Renninger family. Renninger’s daughter, Nicki Gronethal, said, "I'm just grateful to Coach Frost for doing something like that for my dad."
Kunaseck is happy and thankful that his wish came true. He said, "Let's just say it's been a pretty special day."