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How a long-lost Chaparral Letterman jacket became a symbol of resilience and family

ABC15’s Cameron Polom reviews the journey of a 30-year-old letterman’s jacket that was found by accident three years ago.

Musician Jed Mottley was a football player at Chaparral High School in Scottsdale three decades ago – an accomplishment that could only be represented in one way as a teenager in the 1990s: by wearing a letterman’s jacket.

“I went to a store right down the street and we picked everything out, maybe we even put a deposit down,” Mottley said in an interview with ABC15.

Brother finds long-lost Chaparral High School letterman jacket in Arizona thrift store

But when it came time to pick it up, his mother gave him the bad news that they didn’t have the money to buy it.

Two decades later, in 2021, Mottley’s brother walked into Veterans Village, a thrift store in Pinetop near his home. It was his last stop of the day and he said he had a strange feeling when he said he would find something cool in it.

At the store he found what could only have been Mottley’s letterman jacket – a jacket that perhaps shouldn’t exist.

Of course, he took the jacket home and gave it to its rightful owner, Mottley.

Since then, Mottley has taken the special jacket on stage at his concerts and even to his 30th high school reunion this past weekend.

Watch how Mottley’s jacket has become a symbol of resilience, family and nostalgia in the video player above.

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