Antone Exum could have spent his $470 Best Buy gift certificate on anything he wanted. He and his Virginia Tech teammates were given the gift certificates as part of their prize packages for playing in the Russell Athletic Bowl in Orlando, and for a college student at Best Buy, there is certainly no shortage of options.
But it's not what Exum got for himself that has made headlines. It's what he didn't get that has turned into one of the best stories of the holiday season.
The junior cornerback noticed three boys playing PlayStation 3 in the store, and he decided the money would be better spent on them.
"I think I was blessed to have a lot of fortunate Christmases when I was a kid, so I hope that every little kid deserves to have a perfect Christmas," Exum told the Orlando Sentinel.
Naturally, the youngsters were thrilled. The boys got a PlayStation 3, a BlackBerry, and with the help of Exum's teammates Tariq Edwards and Marcus Davis -- who chipped in some of their gift cards as well -- the boys bought a few games for their new console.
It was a dream come true for the kids.
"They asked me like three times, 'So, we get anything that we want?'" Exum recalled. "I said, 'Yeah, I got this money and I want you to go shopping and get what you want.'"
Exum broke the story himself with a photo on Instagram and this widely read tweet:
Spent my $470 Dollar Best Buy Gift Card From The Bowl Game on These Three Kids I Met from Bahamas I Met In T instagr.am/p/ToaZCGOoz6/
— Antone Exum Jr. (@IAmSwag1) December 24, 2012
All in all, it's been one special holiday for the NFL prospect.
"I know it was a Christmas that I won't forget," Exum said. "Because I won't forget those smiles and the excitement on their faces when I told them they could get whatever they wanted in the store."
