I met Reggie last summer at a fan meet-n-greet event. He was gracious to everyone, genuine, a gentleman. I had the opportunity to ask him a question at our dinner. I stood up, cleared my throat, and asked "Can you spot me tree fiddy?"

No, that's a joke. Seriously though, I asked him "Tonight you've spoken about coaches and players you've played with over the years who have obviously influenced you on the field. Who do you credit for making Reggie Wayne the man we know off the field?"

His demeanor changed immediately. We were all laughing from previous exchanges, off the cuff remarks and the like. But this hit home. He immediately got teary eyed and a bit choked up. His voice wasn't as strong in this response, "My parents. They raised me right, and I'll always love them." He lowered the mic to his lap and sniffed. I looked him in the eye, hoping to return any level of genuine feels that he just put out. "Thanks Reggie, I appreciate it," was all I could say.

Later, after dinner my fiance and I joined a queue to shake hands with him and have a picture taken together (and sign a football in the process). As we walked up to him I said, "Reggie, thanks for answering my question tonight." "Of course," he responded, "I'm glad you asked."

I continued, "Reggie, you didn't even realize it at the time, but last year you helped a good friend of mine." I won't get into details, but I have a friend who made the squad the previous year, and had his first payout from the team stolen out of his locker. It was what he had to live on, to start his career on. When the smoke cleared, Reggie stepped up and took the equivalent out of his own wallet, handed it to him and said "Don't worry about paying this back. We need you on this team, this is what teammates do."

I said, "Thank you so much for looking after my friend. You have no idea how happy I am that you are a Colt."

"Of course, wait, you know (name withheld)?" He asked.

"Yeah," I answered, "We kinda grew up together."

"That's great!" Reggie responded.

"Just be sure to give him a hard time next time you see him."

"Sure thing." He said with a grin.

You might hear stories about Reggie's demeanor on the sidelines, his game-time attitude, but do not ever say Reggie was anything less than a stand-up gentleman. My heart has sunk with today's news. I'm going to miss you Reggie.

87 Forever.

Fuck the Patriots.