Cardinals linebacker Sam Acho was just going to hang out with a former teammate, quarterback Rich Bartel, Wednesday night.
Instead, he got to meet a pair of former Presidents.
Acho was able to drag Bartel along when, at the invitation he wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, he attended an event which featured past Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
“It was the coolest night of my life,” Acho said, via Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic.
Not only did Acho get to see Bush and Clinton, he had an opportunity to speak with both prior to the event. He told then about his family immigrating from Nigeria to Texas, and that his father’s a doctor and mother’s a nurse practitioner now. They return to Nigeria yearly to help people in their native land.
When the Presidents were asked about immigration, Clinton asked Acho to stand, and told his story to a crowd of 2,000.
“I’m in awe; I don’t know what to do,” Acho said. “So I stand up.”
When Clinton finished, Bush threw in a “And he’s from Texas. Hook ’em, Horns,” for good measure.
“So I got a shout-out from both President Bush and President Clinton in the same day,” Acho said, “which is unbelievable. It was just a blessing.”
He had a chance to talk to Clinton again afterward, thanking him for sharing his story. Clinton said: “Honestly, Sam, we’ve got to change this whole immigration thing. We’ve got to put a face to it.”
“And I feel the same way,” Acho said. “My parents are immigrants and I go back to Nigeria every year. He has a heart for that and I have a heart for that as well.”
Nothing against Rich Bartel, but it’s hard to imagine he had anything better planned for Acho anyway.