"With the third pick of the 2010 National Football League draft, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers select:
Dick Vermeil?
No, it was Gerald McCoy who wept openly, with tears streaming down his normally happy face and the faces of his father and two sisters. Gerald McCoy, the defensive tackle, run-stuffer, earth-mover and fun-maker from the University of Oklahoma, who lifted his 4-year-old daughter, Nevaeh ("Heaven" spelled backward), and carried her onstage at Radio City Music Hall with the tears still falling and his glasses all fogged up, the most poignant moment of this prime-time draft.
Hey, who didn't choke up?
By the way, the kid can play when his eyes clear.
The tears? So many of them were for an empty chair.
Her name was Patricia McCoy, and she passed away nearly three years ago after a brain aneurysm. She was the heart and soul of the McCoy family. Her only son can still hear her laughter.
"She's the main reason I'm here," McCoy said. "I missed her today. I made it, Momma, I made it."
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