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Game Contestants Get Surprise Reunion With Veteran Brother

Game Contestants Get Surprise Reunion With Veteran Brother

Jeff Tzucker

March 2, 2014

During a timeout of the Pacers-Jazz game on March 2, 2014, G2 Zone member Aaron Rector and his brother, Brandon, took part in the Simon Mall Shootout. The game involves hitting shots to make money, including a free throw for $50, a 3-pointer for $250, and a half-court shot for $1000. Aaron and Brandon hit the free throw and the 3-pointer, but narrowly missed the half-court shot.

When the game was over and the money was to be presented to them, their brother, Justin, a military veteran who had just arrived home from being stationed in Afghanistan, surprised them on the court with the money.

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Overwhelmed by the moment, Justin couldn't lift his head when he first walked on the court. On the other side, Aaron and Brandon fell to the court when they first saw Justin before picking themselves up and sprinted over to him to give him a welcome home hug.

After reuniting on the court, the three brothers (and the rest of their family, including Aaron's full-term pregnant wife) went to the Locker Room Restaurant to have dinner courtesy of Levy Restaurants. When they were done with dinner, the family watched the rest of the game from courtside seats. To cap it off, Aaron and Justin were the first call-in guests on the Pacers OT radio show, hosted by Eddie White.

How was it that this could all come together so well? While the secret plan to have the brothers reunite at the game was already in the works, it actually turned out that Aaron's G2 Zone peers voted him to take part in the Simon Mall Shootout. The natural occurrence of Aaron being elected helped conceal the secret and then everything started to snowball. The Pacers front office folks then were able to work their magic behind the scenes to pull off the surprise.