Above: Viking quarterback Teddy Bridgewater gives Obadiah Gamble a football. Right: Weeks later Obadiah was invited to a Vikings training camp where he showed off his receiving skills. Obadiah’s video birthday invitation to Bridgewater can be seen on Facebook.
Obadiah Gamble, said his grandfather, Cook County Commissioner Garry Gamble, “is a big fan of the Vikings football team and an even bigger fan of Viking quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.”
How big?
On May 16, 2016, Obadiah released a catchy music video called Hey Teddy, inviting the Viking quarterback to his sixth birthday party.
The precocious and musically gifted six-yearold thought of the idea in January while he was in the bathroom making up songs, he said. Over the course of the next several months Obadiah finished the lyrics and melody and then directed the video he starred in, and with help from his parents and family friend, the music video was put on Twitter where Bridgewater saw it.
Bridgewater was committed to other activities on the day of Obadiah’s birthday, so he surprised Obadiah by coming earlier in the week. When Obadiah’s mother Vanessa received the call from the Vikings’ front office saying Bridgewater wanted to stop by, she said at first she thought it was a hoax. Turns out it wasn’t, because Teddy came by bearing gifts and a lot of good will.
Bridgewater spent a couple of hours with Obadiah, tossing a football around and playing games with him. While he was there Bridgewater gave Obadiah an autographed football, a Teddy Towel, and autographed gloves, which may fit Obadiah’s hands in a dozen years or so.
Bridgewater even took time to appear in Obadiah’s next video called “Hey Teddy 2.”
Bridgewater also offered Obadiah a lesson in humility, said Garry Gamble. “When Obadiah scored a touchdown he beat his chest like an ape and shouted in triumph. Teddy pulled him aside and he said that when he scored a touchdown he dialed one-two and pointed his finger to God, giving him the glory. That says a lot about what a class act Bridgewater is.”
Later in June Obadiah was invited to the Vikings’ pre-season practice where he scampered around the field catching footballs thrown by Bridgewater as he was chased by Bridgewater’s very large Viking teammates. By this time ESPN was in on the story and Bridgewater’s good deed had gone national. And so had the song “Hey Teddy.”
While there’s no word yet on whether Teddy can make Obadiah’s seventh birthday party, one thing is for sure, Bridgewater made a little boy’s dreams come true and he made a fan— and a friend—for life.
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