KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A defiant skeleton came home after the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade.
During the parade, a skeleton from graphic design firm REACTOR Design Studio was displayed in front of the building, and Chief Receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette kindly borrowed it.
In a video, Smith-Marsette he said he would bring the skeleton back, but did not return it on the day of the parade.
Three days later, the The 23-year-old tweeted a photo of the skeleton in the back seat of his car and said he was trying to return it safely.
A week later, he kept his promise.
The Newark, New Jersey native said he got off the team bus and his teammates urged him to get the skeleton.
Smith-Marsette said the young woman who shot the video, Mallory Mong, contacted him the next day asking him to bring back the skeleton. Even family and friends insisted that he return the skeleton once he got media coverage.
“If it were up to me, they wouldn’t take the skeleton back,” he joked after returning the skeleton.
Once the receiver returned the skeleton, Clifton Alexander, owner of REACTOR Design Studio, gifted him photos of Smith-Marsette with the skeleton during the parade.
“God sets things right for a certain reason. I got to meet these wonderful people, find out [their] shop,” Smith-Marsette said.
“Just being able to go back and give the skeleton back and also get gifts, that just shows the kind of people KC is made of and I’m happy to be here.”
The Iowa alum also signed the skeleton.
Alexander said he had no issues with the former Bears catcher taking the skeleton, named Skelly, which was first in the building for Halloween decorations. Alexander’s friend and Mallory’s father, Grant Mong, came up with the idea of putting the skeleton front and center during the parade, and the fun started from there.
“It’s just a really funny, random thing that happened,” Alexander said. “We laughed about it, we had fun. Ihmir was a great sportsman and he was a good boy. I hope he does some good with the Chiefs. We love having guys around like this.
Alexander has had his business for 20 years and set up shop at his Grand Boulevard location around 2013. In that time, he has tasted the success of Kansas City sports teams, such as watching the Royals’ World Series parade in 2015 and two Chiefs Super Bowl Parades.
Fun stories like this one, Alexander said, show the heart of the passionate fan base known as the Chiefs Kingdom.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re the starter or not, we love them all,” she said. “So she’ll feel the love of Chiefs Kingdom for years to come, hopefully her.”
