ATLANTA — A huge Braves fan is making his way back home, thanks to the kindness of people who will never have the chance to meet him.
Fourteen years after Horatio Solis passed away, his family paid $50 for a cardboard cutout of him to attend Braves games this season.
Fans are now helping him get home.
For as long as Amy Solis can remember, her dad has been the Atlanta Braves' number one fan.
Though they always lived in Texas, he would watch the games every time they came on TV and cheer for the team.
"He never got to see them play on their home field,” Horatio’s daughter Amy Solis said. "He was always screaming at the TV, he would be clapping, and it's something I picked up from watching games with him, I get so excited."
Amy and her dad Horatio would keep a score card every time the Braves came on TV.
“He wouldn't miss any of the televised games,” she said.
They've always lived in Texas, but from the early 90's, her dad became a big fan of the Braves. He made it to a few away games, but never got to see them play in Atlanta.
“We wanted to take him to see a home game, but unfortunately he got sick, and the same year he got sick, he passed away, so we weren't able to take him to see a home game," Solis said. "That was 14 years ago.”
The whole family still cheers for the Braves for their dad so when the team offered fans the chance to have a cutout sit in the stands for the home games, they knew he would want to be there.
“The view he had was an amazing view, he would have been so happy to be sitting that close to the field,” she said.
When the season ended, the team said the cutouts were ready for pick up, but they wouldn't be able to ship them, no exceptions.
With the Solis family still in Texas, they knew they couldn't come pick it up, so Amy wrote on a Braves fan group asking for help.
That's when she heard from Danny Parrott.
“We started talking, so she told me what section he was in, so I sent her a few pictures of her Dad and the field,” Parrott said.
Parrott is a retired police officer who has spent his whole life helping people, he didn't think twice about getting Horatio's cutout back to their family.
“I have a German Shepard who was fascinated with the cutout, so I put a picture of that and her Dad sitting by the pool on Facebook, just cutting up,” he said.
“It meant a lot to us. It made us smile, brought tears to our eyes. To know that after 14 years someone made this happen for us and he went so far above and beyond,” she said.
Parrott met up with a family friend today who will drive the cutout back to Texas for the family.
Amy says his kindness shows the true heart of a Braves fan.
“2020 really hasn't been a year for anybody, but this really made 2020 a little bit better. This means a lot to us,” she said.
Amy says her dad would be tickled by all of the attention his cut out is getting -- but would be happier knowing the Braves had a winning season.
