When Billy Cundiff, the Baltimore Ravens kicker, missed a field goal with just seconds to go against the Patriots on Sunday, New England secured the AFC title and a West Hartford man secured a souvenir that he will cherish forever.
That ball sailed so far to the left of the field goal that it went past the net, into the stands and into the arms of Terry Oder.
After catching that ball, Oder held onto it tightly.
Looking back, he thinks that there might be a special reason that the ball sailed his way.
Oder was at the game with three friends in memory of Aaron Patroquin, a police officer and childhood friend from Gloucester, Massachusetts, who died from a viral infection at the young age of 45.
"There were four of us, four really close friends who went to the game, kind of in memory of him, and when I texted my brother (on Sunday) to tell him what happened, he said ‘That's Aaron's spirit sending the call in your direction,’" Oder said.
"The ball was going way left, left of the screen even and it looked like it was coming right at my face and somebody drops it and all of a sudden, the ball’s right in front of me, so I just grabbed it and held on like this -- tucked it into my stomach. For four minutes, there were like 20 guys on top of me. I didn’t even see the game. It was crazy.”
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When a security guard approached, Oder feared he was coming to take the ball.
“I thought, ’Oh my God he's gonna take the football' and he said, ‘No, all I want to do is touch it," Oder said.
Several people asked Oder on Sunday if they could touch the ball. Others wanted their pictures taken with it, but for Terry, this is much more powerful than a souvenir of a game the Patriots won. It will be constant reminder of a friend he lost
“This ball will mean a lot to me because my best friend died two weeks ago," Oder said. "I've been in mourning this whole time, for two weeks, and this is kind of a way to help get through that and it's unbelievable what happened. It just defies explanation. One out of 68,000 people -- why did it come to me? I have no idea. Not only did the Patriots win and are going to the Super Bowl but now I have this ball. It's crazy."
