--- title: Football Player Surprises Boy With Autism With Game Tickets description: A Florida college football player who befriended a boy with autism gifted the 11-year-old with an honorary jersey and free game tickets. canonical: https://time.com/4480526/boy-autism-florida-state-travis-rudolph/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-06T17:15:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:36:12.213Z og:title: Football Player Surprises Boy With Autism With Game Tickets og:description: It's the latest heartwarming detail after their friendship went viral og:url: https://time.com/4480526/boy-autism-florida-state-travis-rudolph/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3439fcab39fe2d4/6988a4efa988cad6606b9503/bo-paske-fsu.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Florida State v Mississippi og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Football Player Surprises Boy With Autism With Game Tickets twitter:description: It's the latest heartwarming detail after their friendship went viral twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3439fcab39fe2d4/6988a4efa988cad6606b9503/bo-paske-fsu.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Football Player Travis Rudolph Had Another Sweet Surprise for Boy He Had Lunch With > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=691bdadc-c265-4042-86e4-844cc02fd710&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Sep 6, 2016 5:15 PM UTC  Bo Paske and mother Leah Paske are seen on the sideline prior to the Camping World Kickoff between the Florida State Seminoles and the Mississippi Rebels at Camping World Stadium in Orlando on Sept. 5, 2016. Bo Paske and mother Leah Paske are seen on the sideline prior to the Camping World Kickoff between the Florida State Seminoles and the Mississippi Rebels at Camping World Stadium in Orlando on Sept. 5, 2016. Streeter Lecka—Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Sep 6, 2016 5:15 PM UTC A Florida college football player who [befriended a boy with autism](http://time.com/4478169/boy-autism-football-player-fsu-travis-rudolph-lunch-alone/) in a story that touched the hearts of many around the world gifted the 11-year-old on Monday with an honorary jersey and free game tickets. Florida State University wide receiver Travis Rudolph and Bo Paske embraced and smiled after the college junior surprised Bo with the presents during a [ceremony](https://twitter.com/FSU%5FFootball/status/772823633400037376). The maroon Florida State Seminoles jersey bears Rudolph’s number and Bo’s last name. Their [connection went viral](http://time.com/4474258/florida-state-football-boy-lunch-autism/) last week after Rudolph, during a visit to Bo’s middle school, joined the Tallahassee boy for lunch because he was sitting in the cafeteria alone. His mom Leah Paske previously told TIME that Bo no longer eats lunch by himself. “It makes me feel much better to know that people would surround him with love there,” she said on Friday. She and her son watched their new hero and his team [defeat](http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/florida-state-seminoles/chopping-block/os-three-things-we-learned-fsu-ole-miss-20160906-story.html) the University of Mississippi on Monday night during the season opener. > [](https://twitter.com/FSU%5FFootball/status/772823633400037376) > [](https://twitter.com/FSU%5FFootball/status/772855670420930561) > [](https://twitter.com/CWKickoff/status/772939960949284864) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4480526/boy-autism-florida-state-travis-rudolph/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4480526/boy-autism-florida-state-travis-rudolph/"},"headline":"Football Player Travis Rudolph Had Another Sweet Surprise for Boy He Had Lunch With","datePublished":"2016-09-06T17:15:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:36:12.213Z","description":"It's the latest heartwarming detail after their friendship went viral","url":"https://time.com/4480526/boy-autism-florida-state-travis-rudolph/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3439fcab39fe2d4/6988a4efa988cad6606b9503/bo-paske-fsu.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3439fcab39fe2d4/6988a4efa988cad6606b9503/bo-paske-fsu.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Florida State v Mississippi","caption":"Bo Paske and mother Leah Paske are seen on the sideline prior to the Camping World Kickoff between the Florida State Seminoles and the Mississippi Rebels at Camping World Stadium in Orlando on Sept. 5, 2016.","creditText":"Streeter Lecka—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4480526/boy-autism-florida-state-travis-rudolph/","name":"Football Player Travis Rudolph Had Another Sweet Surprise for Boy He Had Lunch With"}}]}] ```