Watch: Soldier returns from deployment, surprises family member at Alabama football game

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November 11, 2020

This Veterans Day, America celebrates the heroic members of the United States Armed Services, both past and present, who have sacrificed to keep our nation safe and free.

However, appreciation for our service members and veterans does not — and should not — just happen one day per year.

At last Friday’s first-round playoff game between Central of Clay County and Satsuma, one special surprise visitor was recognized prior to kickoff.

Central’s Tyshawn Kerley, as a captain for the game, had just finished the coin flip when the in-stadium announcer asked him over the PA system to remain at midfield.

A video of the scene, which will give you chills, then shows U.S. Army Sgt. Kenneth Malik Howard — Kerley’s cousin — emerge from behind a line of Satsuma players on the visitor’s sideline.

Howard had just returned from a multi-year overseas deployment and had not seen his cousin in “several years,” per the announcer.

The soldier has served a total of 3.5 years on three deployments, including two years consecutively this last time around.

Watch the moment in which Howard surprises Kerley, following a warm welcome from the Alabama crowd:

Thanks to @AHSAAUpdates for passing on this special moment just in time for Veterans Day.

Watch as Sgt. Kenneth Malik Howard surprises a family member at a 1st-round playoff game on Friday: pic.twitter.com/gqjDPUFwuw

— Sean Ross (@sean_yhn) November 11, 2020

Thanks to Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) TV Game of the Week announcer Tommy Wood for sharing this moment.

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn

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