Cam Newton really is Superman to 16-year-old Katie Brown.
So when her hero ran across the end zone after his NFL record-setting 13th rushing touchdown Sunday at Tampa Bay and handed her the game ball, she was speechless and trembling with excitement.
"It was the most amazing moment," Brown said in a phone interview on Monday. For the game, she was dressed in a homemade black T-shirt she'd had made up the night before that said "Katie and Cam" on the front and "Mrs. Newton" on the back along with Newton's No. 1.
"I thought he was going to do his Superman celebration like he normally does, but then all of sudden he started running over and pointed right at me," said Brown, who lives in New Port Richey, Fla. "I was in shock. I thought, 'I must be in a dream.'"
A few minutes later, however, she had to give the football up. That ball, it turns out, is destined for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Newton's third touchdown of the game gave him 13 for the season, the most ever by an NFL quarterback, breaking Steve Grogan's 35-year-old record.
Don Toner, an assistant equipment manager for the Panthers, had the awkward job of asking Brown for the ball.
"The funny thing is when Cam scored and started running over there we're all yelling, 'Oh no, don't,' " Toner said with a laugh. "It was like watching it happen in slow motion. It was painful."
Painful because he knew he'd have to be the one to retrieve the ball.
Toner said Brown was understanding.
"I just asked her real nice, 'Would you mind exchanging that ball — we kind of need it,' " Toner said. "And she was real sweet about it. She didn't hesitate. She was so excited she was trembling. She was just giddy about what had just happened."
"It was some quick thinking on Donnie's part," said Jackie Miles, the Panthers' equipment manager.
Brown said she didn't mind trading the ball.
"I was like, OK, no problem," Brown said. "I honestly believe Cam deserves to have that ball because it was his record and his achievement. He should have it."
Miles said the team plans to send Brown a care package in the mail.
All in all, it was an incredible day for Brown, who didn't even know she was going to the game until a few hours before kickoff.
She doesn't live far from Raymond James Stadium and had asked her father, D.J. Brown, if going to see Newton play could be her Christmas present.
At the time he told his daughter they couldn't afford the tickets, but secretly purchased four for Katie, her 11-year-old brother, Noah, and their mother, Renee. On Sunday, he didn't tell her where they were going until they were on the way to the game.
"She was just so thrilled," D.J. Brown said. "I think she had an inkling though, because she had the T-shirt made up the night before the game."
D.J. Brown said her daughter became a Newton fan while he was playing at Auburn. They were watching a game together when Katie asked him, "Who's that guy?"
He told her.
"I told my father right there I'm going to be a fan of whatever team drafts him," Brown said. "So I'm a Panthers fan."
Brown said returning to school Monday at River Ridge High was a blast as several of her classmates had seen what happened on television.
"It was an amazing day," Brown said. "I was a really great early Christmas present."
Only one thing could top it, she said.
"I'm wondering if Cam can take me to my prom?" she said.
Note: The Panthers didn't escape Sunday's win over the Bucs injury-free. Both of the team's starting rookie defensive tackles were scheduled to have MRIs on Monday — Sione Fua on his left hamstring and Terrell McClain on his right knee. Fua injured his hamstring before the game and McClain left during the game.
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