{"id":393438,"date":"2024-05-13T20:06:47","date_gmt":"2024-05-13T20:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=393438"},"modified":"2024-05-13T21:03:44","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T21:03:44","slug":"ennis-rakestraw-jr-posts-heart-warming-letter-to-his-fourth-grade-teacher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=393438","title":{"rendered":"Ennis Rakestraw Jr. posts heart-warming letter to his fourth grade teacher"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ennis Rakestraw Jr. was fortunate enough to have a special teacher in his life, one who believed in him and encouraged the then-fourth-grade student to chase his dreams. Now a rookie with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lionswire.usatoday.com\/\">Detroit Lions<\/a>, Rakestraw is continuing to pursue his NFL goals.<\/p>\n<p>And he hasn&#8217;t forgotten the teacher who believed in him.<\/p>\n<p>Rakestraw, a second-round pick of the Lions in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/prospects\/ennis-rakestraw-jr\/32005241-4b37-3762-cf08-2d11d0e427b9\">2024 NFL draft<\/a>, posted a note on social media that he had written <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/sports\/other\/lions-ennis-rakestraw-jr-shares-viral-moment-with-his-fourth-grade-teacher-after-draft\/ar-BB1mb4UM?ocid=BingNewsSerp\">to his fourth-grade teacher<\/a> at Hastings Elementary School (Duncanville, Texas). In the note, Rakestraw thanked Derek Gammon for his uncharacteristic passion for his students.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/texashsfootball.com\/detroit-lions-draftee-pays-tribute-to-duncanville-teacher\/\">note from Rakestraw<\/a> is a touching outpouring from a young life impacted by a teacher&#8217;s passion for the job. Gammon, who is now a principal, was thanked by Rakestraw as someone who &#8220;always had and have my back and you give me confidence.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Gammon created a social media account to respond to Rakestraw:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">4th grade I made this commitment and if I make a promise. I\u2019ll keep it no matter how difficult it is.<img src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/14.0.0\/72x72\/1f64f-1f3fe.png\" alt=\"\ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\udffe\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em;max-height: 1em\" \/><img src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/14.0.0\/72x72\/1f64f-1f3fe.png\" alt=\"\ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\udffe\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em;max-height: 1em\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Lions?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Lions<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/chaseyourdreams?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#chaseyourdreams<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/V6yJ9QNIKZ\">pic.twitter.com\/V6yJ9QNIKZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ennis Rakestraw Jr (@EnnisRakestraw) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EnnisRakestraw\/status\/1787259843406897624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 5, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I don&#8217;t know what I&#8217;m doing,but when a former student sends you a link to a tweet about a letter they wrote you in 4th grade about going to the NFL,and they get drafted and GO TO THE NFL! You create an account!<\/p>\n<p>Much love,and I am so proud of you! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EnnisRakestraw?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@EnnisRakestraw<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/QuigleyShamika?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@QuigleyShamika<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Derek Gammon (@GammonD8181) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GammonD8181\/status\/1787300834977488945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 6, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Rakestraw was selected No. 61 overall in April&#8217;s NFL draft. He had 35 total tackles and four pass breakups his final season at Missouri.<\/p>\n<p>But perhaps what is most impressive &#8211; and what likely will please Gammon the most &#8211; is that Rakestraw made the <a href=\"https:\/\/mutigers.com\/sports\/football\/roster\/ennis-rakestraw--jr-\/17006\">SEC All-Academic Honor Roll<\/a> four times during his collegiate career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Ennis Rakestraw Jr. posts note he wrote to his fourth grade teacher.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":286601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393438"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=393438"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":393440,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393438\/revisions\/393440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/286601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=393438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=393438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=393438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}