‘Dude, That’s Weird’: Chance Meeting with Justice Becomes Graduation Coup
Two football players for a Maryland high school parlayed a chance meeting with Justice Clarence Thomas into an appearance at their high school graduation on Monday.
The students, flying home from a recruiting trip at the University of Nebraska, had no idea at first that the man beside them who was a big Cornhuskers fan was also a U.S. Supreme Court justice, NBC reports. The man knew about their stats and their positions playing football for Quince Orchard High School, students Terrence Stephens and Jason Ankrah told the Gazette.
“At first, he kind of just knew who we were and started rambling off information,” Stevens told the newspaper. “We were kind of like ‘OK, dude, that’s weird.’ But he’s really just a very interesting man.”
By the time the plane landed, Stephens and Ankrah realized that their seatmate also sat on the U.S. Supreme Court. They decided to invite the justice to speak at their graduation, and he obliged.
“These young men had no idea who I was as I formed my first impression. I was just another stranger to them. They were wonderful ambassadors for your school and for their fellow students,” Thomas said at the graduation ceremony.
Hat tip to Above the Law.
