Strangers bond at Seahawks game; post to Sherman’s page goes viral

By chance, Isaac Marquez, a 30-year-old Albuquerque man who has Down syndrome and a huge passion for the Seattle Seahawks, wound up sitting next to Eileen Hively, a former Hoquiam, Washington, resident, last weekend at the Seahawks game in Phoenix. They’ll be together again for the playoff game in Minneapolis on Sunday, but this time it won’t be by accident.

Marquez’s trip to the game last Sunday fulfilled a birthday wish after turning 30. He brought a ball to the stadium, purchased by his father in hopes that Marquez’s favorite player, Richard Sherman, would sign it. But security staff wouldn’t let him bring it into the stadium.

As it turned out, during warmups, Sherman himself gave Marquez a ball.

“(Marquez) was down in the front row and hollered at Richard. For whatever reason, Richard came over and gave him the ball,” Hively said.

Hively, a 1971 graduate of Hoquiam High School who now works for American Airlines and divides her time between homes in Richland and the Phoenix area, was sitting next to Marquez and the two bonded during the game.

After Hively and Marquez parted ways, she posted a picture of the two of them onto Richard Sherman’s Facebook wall. The post went viral.

For Sherman, a player often known more for his outspokenness than anything else, Hively saw the post as a way to show another side of the Seahawks star.

“I wanted people to see a different side of him. I wanted Richard to see how he had touched this kid’s life with a football, a simple gesture,” she said.

The post garnered more than 5,500 shares and over 1,000 comments, including more than one from Sherman’s mother.

After meeting Marquez, Hively wanted to reach out to him but didn’t know how. Luckily, through the Facebook post, she connected with his family and offered to fly Marquez and his father to Minnesota and provide tickets and a hotel room so they could see the playoff game. Hively, along with a friend, is paying for the trip.

Hively said the decision was influenced not only by the bond she created with Marquez, but also hearing of his family’s recent loss. His mother died in April.

“I lost my husband about three years ago. I kind of related to that loss. I just felt like it’s a simple little gesture,” she said. “He melted my heart; I just felt like I wanted to do something good for him. I thought ‘How cool would it be to get him to the playoff game?’”

Marquez’s brother, Pete Jr., isn’t surprised that Hively and Isaac became close.

“People often fall for the guy. He’s just very loving, very happy; he’s got a heart of gold,” he said. “People around him tend to be very generous to him because he’s very generous to them.”