Seahawks fan turns down $20K for Kearse's game-winning football, will give it to receiver
The Seattle Seahawks fan who caught the ball that wideout Jermaine Kearse heaved into the stands after catching a game-winning touchdown from Russell Wilson in the NFC championship game says he turned down a $20,000 offer for the ball from a memorabilia dealer.
Not only did the fan, 32-year-old Scott Shelton -- who says he is a jobless father of two young children and is headed to jail for months the day after the Super Bowl -- hear that pretty lucrative offer, but he also got a call from Jermaine Kearse himself.
"My phone rings, and it was Jermaine! Jermaine Kearse, you know? The Man!" Shelton said, according to Komo News. "We were just talking about the game. He told me he wanted to trade his game helmet signed by the team and his jersey, for the ball. And then he asked me what (else) I wanted for the ball. And I said 'Honestly, it would be nice to go see you guys whip New England in the Super Bowl.' So he's going to see what he can do about that. But I told him I wouldn't give it up unless it was going to him. I wouldn't want anyone else to have it."
Beyond the obvious sentimental value of the football used in a play of that magnitude, the touchdown marked an incredible rebound for Kearse, who was Russell Wilson's targeted receiver on all four of Wilson's four interceptions. That had shaped up Kearse to be one of the major goats in the event of a Seahawks loss. (That unfortunate torch got passed to Packers tight end Brandon Bostick, who botched an attempt to recover an onside kick late in the fourth quarter.)
This lucky @Seahawks fan caught Jermaine Kearse's game-winning ball. But I talked to Kearse and he wants it back. pic.twitter.com/z6pyFRcXam
— Jeff Dubois (@JeffKIRO7) January 19, 2015