Randy Moss Fulfills Promise, Attends Leukemia Survivor's Graduation
By Rob Perez
After all the depressing NFL stories we’ve read this year — whether it’s the Ray Rice domestic violence incident, DeflateGate, drug abuse… it’s nice to final stumble on something that’s genuinely heart-warming.
This is the story about Kassi Spier, told to us by NFL.com’s Manouk Akopyan. Per Manouk, Kassi is a two-year-old girl who Randy Moss met, as a rookie, at a Minnesota Vikings autograph session. Manouk goes on to elaborate how the two forged a special relationship and friendship “from the moment she screamed ‘RANDY!’, as a toddler, in 1998” — and sometime between that moment and now, Moss promised that he would attend Kassi’s high school graduation whenever and wherever it was.
Since then, Kassi’s life has been filled with turmoil. Spier was diagnosed with leukemia in 2000, she lost her father to a car accident in 2004 and was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2013. Moss’ relationship with Spier never faltered — Spier told The Pioneer Press that Moss visited her at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., after her leukemia diagnosis, and he “had a hard time saying goodbye during that visit … he cried because he didn’t want to leave.”
Manouk alludes to a 2004 ESPN The Magazine story which describes how Moss always had a picture of her in his locker — and during the 2003 season, Spier accompanied Moss to lunch almost every single day during Vikings training camp with “her tiny hand tucked inside his”, per an Associated Press story.
"“Randy loves that girl to death,” Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper told Sean Jensen of The Pioneer Press. “They have that connection, and I think it’s beautiful.”"
Fast forward to this most recent Friday, 2015: Kassi graduated from Pelican Rapids High School in Minnesota — and boy did Moss not let her down…
Per Pelican Rapids Public School District Superintendent Deb Wanek, Moss showed up to personally hand-deliver Kassi her diploma — and was even nice enough to take some pictures with some young fans while at the school…
Randy’s former Minnesota Vikings coach, Mike Tice, reiterated this sentiment in a quote to NFL.com.
"“Randy wants everyone to think he’s a tough guy, but his relationship with this little girl is really something. It’s typical of Randy. He’s great with kids. He doesn’t trust authority. And he doesn’t trust adults because he thinks they all want something from him. And you know what? He’s not far off.”"
Long story short: when most of us hear “Randy Moss” said out loud, we’re able to associate many words with it…
For example: cocky
rebellious
forthright
But, if this story of his relationship with Kassi Spier is any indication… the whole “tough guy” act that we saw throughout his professional career is merely just a front and/or part of a bigger ‘Who is Randy Moss?’ story — which we football fans never really got to learn about…
Whether it’s the NFL, the NBA, NHL, “My Wish” on Sportscenter, etc… I feel like we read something like this once a week. But, for me: this one was particularly fascinating. How two people with completely different lives from completely different backgrounds could share such a special bond … stemming from something so simple … is pretty amazing. As ludicrous Roger Goodell rulings, hot takes on inflated balls, and Tom Brady’s suspension continue to plague media headlines — just keep in mind: sports can be pretty damn awesome sometimes…