This is the story of how a man madly in love, and in search of a job in the NFL, landed both with a big helping hand along the way.
Demone Harris experienced a rollercoaster of emotions in the span of one week. Harris was cut after returning back home from the Buccaneers Week 6 game in London versus the Panthers. Shortly afterwards, he was due to arrive in Baltimore for a tryout with the Ravens. In the midst of a whirlwind of events panic crept in. Harris had misplaced the engagement ring he purchased for his high school sweetheart. With an NFL roster spot and his future queen in the balance, a housekeeping manager arrived for the rescue.
Here are the details on the wild sequence of events
When recently cut Tampa Bay Buccaneers outside linebacker Demone Harris’ phone buzzed with a 410 area code on Oct. 17 — first with a text and then a phone call — he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Not only were the Baltimore Ravens signing him to their practice squad, but the lost engagement ring he planned to propose to his girlfriend with had been located and the Ravens were overnighting it to him.
Harris had brought the ring with him to his Oct. 15 workout in Baltimore, in part, so his girlfriend, Arianna Marinelli, wouldn’t find it, but also because it looked like he would have to fly directly to Buffalo for the proposal, which he had spent months planning to coincide with the Bucs’ bye week.
“About an hour and 20 minutes into my flight [back], I noticed that the ring was gone — it was missing,” Harris said. “I wasn’t freaking out. I just kept my composure. I’m like, ‘The ring’s missing, you have no job right now, but everything’s gonna be fine. My faith is so strong. When adversity like that happens to you, it only means that something really good is about to happen.’” It did. The manager of housekeeping at the Hyatt Place where Harris stayed, Yvonne Colahar, had found the ring in the hotel room’s kitchen area.
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