They met every Sunday, the big man and the little girl.
Ryan was a fun-loving star lineman on the Bowling Green State University football team, Ella a bright but shy third-grader from Perrysburg who was born with no eyes.
They connected as part of a sports program that pairs children with special needs with student volunteers at Bowling Green, and became fast friends.
For more than two years, they played everything together. Baseball. Basketball. Football. The sessions became a highlight of their week.
“I’ve never seen Ella smile like she did when she was learning from Ryan how to play a sport,” said her mother, Jill Ibsen.
As time passed, the bond only grew. Ryan became a regular at the Ibsen home, whether it was to join Erik — the general manager of the Mud Hens — and Jill and their four children for dinner or to help babysit. He even watched the NFL draft there after his senior season.
Ryan shared in Ella’s successes, and Ella and her family shared in his.
One day, late in his time at Bowling Green, Ryan told the Ibsen kids: “Hey, listen, maybe one day when I’m done here, you’ll still be able to see me on Sundays.”
Ella smiled and — never without her quick sense of humor — fired back.
“I definitely can’t wait to see you then.”
Well, fast forward to today.
If the visits from Ryan are more infrequent, he has good reason.
He has work on Sundays, including this one.
Ryan Hunter is a second-year reserve guard for the Kansas City Chiefs.
After the North Bay, Ontario, native went undrafted in 2018 and spent the past two seasons on and off the Chiefs’ active roster, he rejoined the team for the playoffs and his extraordinary ride will continue in Miami for Super Bowl LIV.
How cool is that?
“Surreal,” Hunter told me by phone Thursday afternoon.
The Ibsens feel the same way, including little Ella, who is no longer so little.
Now 13, she plays the piano, writes for the Power of the Pen team at Perrysburg Junior High, and sings in the school choir. You may remember her beautiful performance of the national anthem before a Hens game last summer.
Ella is like any other gifted seventh-grader.
She just happens to be blind — and has the coolest friend in town.
As she told her mom the other day, “What other seventh-grader around here has an NFL player in the Super Bowl that they can text at the drop of a hat?”
Ella counts her friendship with Hunter as a blessing in a life filled with them.
No, times have not always been easy.
Nothing could have prepared Erik and Jill for the news they received shortly after their firstborn was delivered at Toledo Children’s Hospital.
Ella did not have eyes, a genetic condition known as bilateral anophthalmia that affects one in 10,000 children. The Ibsens were blindsided and broken.
But they were undeterred, too.
“We grieved for an hour,” Jill said. “This was the way it was going to be, and we knew we would treat Ella like any kid.”
Rather than consider what may have been lost, she and Erik appreciated the wonder they had gained.
And was she ever.
Ella — who was outfitted with hand-painted prosthetic eyes and learned to walk with a white cane — was smart and sweet and funny and fearless.
Ryan remembers their first meeting in January, 2016.
His girlfriend, Paige Brling, was a volunteer at the BG chapter of RallyCap Sports — a national non-profit — and, on that given Sunday at the Stroh Center, he had time to join her.
They were matched with Ella, a newcomer who wasn’t sure she wanted to be there, and immediately the three connected. While the idea was for the athlete-buddy pairings to change every week, Ryan and Paige stayed with Ella. Ryan came back the next Sunday, and the Sunday after that, and nearly every Sunday for two years.
They bounced from sport to sport together, including cheerleading. Rumor has it Ryan, no short glass of water at 6-4, 320 pounds, even pulled off a smooth split kick.
“From what I hear about offensive linemen, that seemed pretty impressive to me!” Ella said in an email.
She adored Ryan and Paige, and they loved her back, the joy all theirs.
What most drew Ryan to Ella?
“Honestly, her ability to have fun,” he said. “Ella is completely fearless. She attacks the world like anybody else should. She doesn’t let what has happened to her affect her attitude or her mindset of how she approaches life.
“She means a lot to me, and her family as well. They did so much to make me feel like I had a family in Bowling Green.”
As he still does.
Before Ryan left, he gave Ella a framed photo of them together and a signed Chiefs pennant, both of which she keeps on the bookshelf in her bedroom. He has since stayed in regular contact with the Ibsens, including Ella’s three younger siblings, Chase, Noah, and Lexi.
When he first made the Chiefs’ 53-man roster earlier this year, the family was overjoyed. Jill cried.
“I’m so proud of him,” she said. “He such a special person.”
Now, the Ibsens are hoping for one more Sunday to remember.
“I am definitely rooting for the Chiefs this weekend because of [Ryan] and I know how wonderful it would feel if they won during his first season being active on the team,” Ella said. “I now have another reason to actually enjoy watching the Super Bowl besides being there just for the food!”
First Published January 31, 2020, 12:00 p.m.
