A package — and a sweet note, from soccer fan to soccer fan — arrived at Owen Cortez’s front door. He didn’t know what to expect.
“I’m so glad to help you find your jersey. It is really cool and I would understand how sad that I would feel if I lost my jersey too. Just happy to help –Sarah.”
Owen, a 7-year-old Sounders fan from Avondale, lost his signed Sounders jersey in the Kino Sports Complex parking lot as he was leaving a Jan. 26 exhibition draw between the Sounders and with Portland Timbers.
Jonathan Cortez, Owen’s father, went to the scrimmage with his son to have some dad-and-son time. Both are huge fans of the Sounders. Owen brought two soccer jerseys with him with hopes of getting them signed.
On the way home, Owen realized he didn’t have his signed Sounders jersey.
The 7-year-old began to tear up. His father said Owen stayed silent the whole car ride home.
Jonathan Cortez took a photo of his son crying and emailed FC Tucson asking about his son’s missing jersey. FC Tucson posted to photo to its social media platforms with a plea.
It wasn’t long before the jersey was found.
FC Tucson fan Noah Raney saw the Twitter post and told FC Tucson staff that he might know the whereabouts of the jersey.
Raney, a season-ticket holder and youth soccer coach, was walking out of the same game with his kids some other kids he coaches. They saw something black on the ground. Sarah Bristow, a 10-year-old Tucson girl, picked it up and took it home. She noticed it was small.
Raney reached out to Sarah’s parents saying he found the owner of the jersey. Sarah was happy to return the jersey, Raney said.
And she wrote a sweet letter to Owen.
“The perfect part about this. It wasn’t like I told them what to do; it’s something they did on their own. I just kind of helped them execute it,” Raney said.
Owen’s father kept the news a secret. When the package arrived, Owen opened it, read the note from Sarah and screamed “Yes!,” jumping around with a smile on his face. Additionally, he received a FC Tucson hat from the club.
“He was over the moon,” Cortez said.
FC Tucson president Amanda Powers says the soccer community is all about helping one another. In a world where good actions are hard to find, two kids showed us what it is like to do the right thing. The Sounders gave Sarah a signed hat.
“It shows that honesty, integrity and supporting one another is important,” Power said.
As a father, Cortez said he was grateful that someone found his son’s jersey and returned it. Such a simple action made Owen happy.
“For me it’s what this sport is about again. It’s uniting kids that don’t know each other to be friends and things of that nature so I loved it,” Raney said.
