University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: A Bond Beyond Football
September 2, 2015 | Football, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
By Adam Lucas
Jason Wade is the very rare father who doesn't seem to mind that his three-year-old daughter has a boyfriend. Of course, it helps that Mollie Jean Wade's boyfriend is Ryan Switzer.
That's what the youngster laughingly calls Switzer, who has developed a deep friendship with the Wade family over the past 12 months. The Tar Heel receiver first met them through the power of social media. In March, Switzer posted the Bible verse Romans 8:28 on Instagram: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
That same night, Jason Wade was nervously anticipating his daughter's trip to Duke University Hospital the next day. After multiple intense crying spells and some confusing diagnoses, doctors eventually sent Mollie Jean for an MRI. The scan revealed a spot on her cerebellum; she would need surgery within a month to remove it.
The brain tumor was a grade two (on a scale of four), but it was found early and doctors were optimistic. Jason, of course, was petrified. He'd grown up a hardcore Carolina fan, an allegiance that never wavered even when he attended NC State for college. “I don't know how I didn't get beaten up,” he says with a laugh. “I never understood how people could grow up cheering for a school and then switch to a rival when they attended that school. I wasn't going to do that. I was a student at NC State, and I bought tickets to the football game at UNC and sat in the State student section wearing a Carolina shirt.”
Jason graduated in 1999, and marriage and two daughters didn't change his love for the Tar Heels. So it was natural that one of his favorite Instagram follows was Switzer.
But he never really expected to hear back from the receiver, even after sending him a direct message following Switzer's Instagram post. Mollie Jean was due for her surgery the very next day, and Jason dashed off a message to Switzer, more as personal therapy than as someone expecting a response.
“I do get a pretty high number of messages, and a lot of times it's people asking for advice,” Switzer says. “But I had never gotten one like that before. His daughter was going into surgery, and he was asking me for support. It really connected with me, because Mollie Jean was three at the time and I have a little sister who is three. That could be her.”
Switzer reposted Mollie Jean's photo and asked for the thoughts of the Carolina community while she went through surgery. A friendship was born.
Numerous phone calls and texts ensued, and the Wade family attended the home game against Pitt last year. They're planning even more visits this season. Mollie Jean's surgery went well, but she still has to have an MRI every six months. That's not such an ordeal, however, because it provides an excuse for a trip to the Triangle from their home in LaGrange.
“He's obviously an awesome football player,” Jason Wade says of Switzer. “But what sets him apart is that he's a genuinely nice guy and he's very down to earth. It speaks volumes for the job his mom and dad did raising him. He's a college athlete; he's very busy and he doesn't have to take time for a three-year-old. But there's just something different about Ryan, and kids can sense that.”
Mollie has long since stopped seeing Switzer as the guy in the football uniform and now considers him to be, well, her boyfriend. And for Switzer, there's no doubt he sees a little bit of home—and his own three-year-old sister, Mykah.
But he's also developed a unique relationship with a family that values him more for the smile he puts on their daughter's face than on his ability to carry a football.
“My parents have always tried to make me aware of my surroundings and what comes with being a football player or athlete,” Switzer says. “As I grow older and more mature, I can see how my life on the field can affect other people's lives as well. Really, the Wades have helped me so much more than I've helped them. It only brings me more peace. I don't do it because of what anyone might think about it. I do it because I formed a true connection with a little girl and her family that I hope lasts as long as I'm on this earth.”
The Wade family's most recent trip to the Triangle came in August. Switzer met them and arranged a private tour of the UNC football facilities. Later that night, the entire group went out to dinner.
It was at that meal that Mollie Jean's mother, Dana, winked at Ryan.
“Mollie, don't you have something you want to tell Ryan?” she asked.
Mollie giggled and leaned in to the rising college junior.
“I love you,” she told him.
