Packers' running back says necklace with father's ashes lost in endzone was found
Aaron Jones said he is dedicating the NFL season to his father, Alvin Jones Sr.
GREEN BAY, Wisconsin (KTRK) -- A very special case of lost and found involving Green Bay Packers running back Aaron Jones lit up social media Tuesday morning.
Aaron, who grew up in El Paso and played college football at the University of Texas at El Paso, lost a necklace with a football pendant bearing the ashes of his late father, Alvin Jones Sr.
Alvin died of complications of COVID-19 in April at age 57 after being hospitalized for the illness, the El Paso Times reported.
Monday night was Aaron's first game back at Lambeau Field since his father's death, and also marked the first game that Alvin wouldn't see his son play.
According to an Instagram post from Aaron announcing his father's passing, his dad hadn't missed a game in nine years, and was always in the stands for pre-game warm ups.
Aaron, 26, said he'd be dedicating this NFL season to honor him, and during that primetime game versus the Detroit Lions, the Packers star wore a necklace to honor his father.
Aaron had a banner night, scoring four touchdowns in the 35-17 victory over the Lions, but it was during one of those touchdowns in the endzone that the necklace's pendant popped off, appearing to roll onto the goal line.
"He was really on my heart," Aaron told ESPN about his father after the game. "I actually have a chain with a football that his ashes are in. I scored and it fell off in the endzone, so I'll go look for it, but I know he's happy. He'd be like, 'If you lose it anywhere, lose it in the endzone.'"
Hours after the game, Packers head athletic trainer Bryan Engel was spotted searching the endzone for the necklace, and sure enough, he found it.
Aaron reported the good news later Tuesday.
"Found at 1:45 a.m. Thank you to our trainer Bryan "Flea" Engel. I'm forever grateful," the running back wrote on Twitter.
On Monday night, 15 family members stood in the stands, including Aaron's mother and his brother, Alvin Jr. Aaron says he'll always be looking for his dad in the stands.
This wasn't the first time that Aaron has gone viral.
In 2018, while on the way back to Wisconsin from El Paso, Jones helped a woman off a flight, and then was captured in a photo pushing the woman in a wheelchair to greet her daughter.
At the time, then-Packers coach Mike McCarthy talked to ESPN about Aaron's random act of kindness, saying, in part, "I'll just say about Aaron Jones and our players: I look at that as I'm thankful that everybody else is getting to see what I get to see pretty much every day."
Packers RB Aaron Jones' random act of kindness at airport goes viral
