What Made New Detroit Lions GM Brad Holmes Cry? It's Not The Team

This was well planned. A simple, but important speaking engagement. People in Brad Holmes' position do this all the time. But they don't usually find this kind of news out this way.

New Detroit Lions General Manager Brad Holmes was asked to speak via Zoom to students at the high school he attended in Tampa, as part of the school's Black History Month Initiative. People in his position do that all the time.

But the football coach and staff at Holmes' high school alma mater, George D. Chamberlain High School in Tampa Bay, had a surprise in store for Holmes, too.

"Holmes was invited to speak to students by Jason Lane, the school's varsity football coach, as a way to celebrate Holmes being named Detroit's general manager this off-season, and to allow Holmes to serve as a role model for the school's student athletes. Holmes was captain of the Chiefs football team in the mid-to-late 1990s." - DetroitLions.com

What Holmes may not have noticed is his jersey hanging in the background, on the other end of the Zoom call. Coach Lane told Holmes that the school was retiring his jersey and hanging it up in the school's new athletic facility set to open after the summer.

Holmes voice cracked with emotion.

"Guys, I just want to say thank you, Means a lot. It's an honor to be here and to have my jersey retired, which I did not know was going to happen, this is a big shocker to me. I can't tell you how much I thank you guys for even having this. This is unbelievable. It's truly humbling to be invited to be a part of you guys and I'm a Chief for life. To have my jersey retired is beyond words. I'm at a loss for words. I can probably say this is one of my best moments in my sports career." - Brad Holmes