Emmanuel Acho is trading his cleats for dancing shoes and his Philadelphia Eagles jersey for a tux.
The Eagles linebacker surprised his biggest fan, Hannah Delmonte, after the high schooler started a viral campaign to ask him to her senior prom. Delmonte had asked Acho if he might be her date to the prom if she could get 2,000 re-tweets, but he raised the bar and asked for 10,000.
That didn’t turn out to be a problem, as more than 15,000 supporters did their part to help Hannah land a date with Emmanuel Acho.
PLEASE RETWEET!!!! @thEMANacho pic.twitter.com/VKljvmoOw4
— Hannah Delmonte (@hdelmonte32) January 8, 2015
This week, Acho showed up at Hannah’s school to surprise her, with a television crew following along. Hannah’s parents and school board members were in on the reveal, and during a meeting with the teenager, told her that she needed to talk to her school board’s president for approval.
But when she and the school administrators walked over to talk to the president, Emmanuel Acho was there instead , waiting with a jersey to give to Hannah and an answer to her prom proposal.
“So I already talked to the school board, but would you let me go to prom with you?” he told Hannah at their meeting.
A stunned Hannah put her hand over her mouth, with tears filling her eyes.
“I wouldn’t have guessed this was going to happen in a million years,” Hannah said.
Though Hannah was clearly shocked, Emmanuel Acho had already hinted that he would be taking her . Shortly after losing the bet back in January he joked about getting ready for the prom.
Impressive. Never again will I open up an Instagram DM… So, where do you buy a corsage?! — Emmanuel Acho (@thEMANacho) January 9, 2015
Hannah Simone is not the first high schooler to snag a famous date to the prom. In the past few years, some brave and social media savvy teenagers have launched campaigns to ask their favorite celebrities to the prom, with some finding success.
Last year, Olympic skater Gracie Gold accepted a prom proposal from Dyer Pettijoh, a high school student who put together a clever YouTube video asking her to his prom. Sports correspondent Michelle Beadle also accepted a proposal from paralyzed high school hockey player Jack Jablonski, and a Texans cheerleader accepted a proposal from a high school football player who asked her via Twitter.
Emmanuel Acho now has a few weeks to get ready for his prom date with Hannah Simone, plenty of time to find out where to buy a corsage.
[Image via Emmanuel Acho]