30-Year-old Letterman Jacket Is Found By Brother in Serendipitous Twist of Fate
From Arizona comes the remarkable “timeless” story of a man who got to try on his varsity letterman jacket decades after he ordered it.
Unable to afford it at the time, Jed Mottley and the jacket went their separate ways, only to reunite after a spur-of-the-moment, serendipitous visit to a thrift store almost 30 years later.
28 years ago, Mottley got on the varsity football team at Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, an accomplishment that could be properly celebrated in only one way: with a letterman jacket.
For foreign readers, the ‘letterman’ jacket is one of the most ubiquitous images of school sports in America. The elastic cuffs and waist, tan leather sleeves, and iron-on patches became so cool, that it has since transformed into an international style item, but are still traditionally ordered individually by members of school sports teams.
When it came time for Mottley to get his, he grabbed his mom and went down to a local shop.
“I went to a store right down the street here and we picked everything out, we might have even put a deposit down,” Mottley told ABC News 15.
When the customized jacket was ready, so was the bad news: the family didn’t have enough money.
Jed understood, but was nevertheless distraught, a feeling that stuck with him for years as he watched his teammates cavort themselves around the school in their own letterman jackets.
Fast forward nearly three decades, and one day Jed’s brother Josh was nearing the end of a string of errands when he decided to pop into a thrift store called Veteran’s Village in Pinetop, Arizona. He said he had a funny feeling he would find something cool. Opening the door, something bright red catches Josh’s eye.
“[Josh] goes, ‘dude let me just send you a picture of this real quick.’ I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it, I’m like, ‘dude that’s my jacket,’” said Jed, a professional musician who now lives in Los Angeles.
A mother’s promise
Jed knew he had to come get his hands on that letterman jacket, which had tumbled about in the ether and ended up in his brother’s hands.
“That thing’s been sitting somewhere in perfect condition for 28 years,” Josh also told ABC 15’s Uplifting Arizona. “I just kept looking at it, saying this can’t be real. I can tell you I felt my mom’s presence with us when I met up with him to give it to him.”
Jed and Josh’s mother passed away in 2012. A deeply religious woman, she said she would be leaving signs and messages for her boys from heaven, a prediction the two men said never really came true.
One can only speculate what the brothers must have felt as they reunited over the lost jacket—the first time they had seen each other in person in years.
“This is a timeless story,” Jed told GNN. “There’s always such a heartwarming response when people hear the story for the first time.”
According to ABC 15, the jacket attracted worldwide attention, and has accompanied Jed on tour with his band, covered his shoulders at his 30th high school reunion, and even won the admiration of Tom Hanks, who said he was stealing the story for a movie idea.
WATCH a summary of the saga of “Jed’s Jacket” below…
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