Just Months After Hip Surgery, 85-Year-Old Grandpa Runs the Bases at a Baseball Game Alongside His Grandson (Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW

• Gabrielle Crothers and her entire family attended a Peoria Chiefs game at Dozer Park in Illinois
• The family — all born and raised in the Peoria area — have been longtime Chiefs fans, especially her 85-year-old grandfather, Tom Persich
• After the game, they invited people down to the field to run the bases for fun. That’s when Crothers’s grandpa decided to join in

Earlier this month, Gabrielle Crothers and her entire family attended a Peoria Chiefs game at Dozer Park in Illinois. The family — all born and raised in the Peoria area — have been longtime Chiefs fans, especially her 85-year-old grandfather, Tom Persich.

After the game, the team had planned a fireworks show. But since it ended earlier than expected, the stadium needed to stall until it got dark. To keep fans entertained, they invited people down to the field to run the bases for fun.

That’s when Crothers’ grandpa decided to join in.

“My grandpa has always had a young soul, so it’s not rare for him to want to do something like this,” Crothers, 24, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “He turned to a few of us in the stands and said he wanted to run the bases with the kids. We sort of laughed it off, not knowing he was fully serious.”

But sure enough, a little while later, there he was — down on the field, running alongside Crothers’ cousin and Persich's grandson, Jacob Stephens, 30.

At first, Crothers says, people didn’t notice him. It wasn’t until Persich, a retired optician, made his way to third base — with only him and his grandson still running — that the announcer called everyone’s attention to the field. The crowd erupted in cheers as he approached home plate.

“For those of us who know him, it wasn’t entirely surprising that he was doing this, as he’s always had this spark,” she says. “But even still, watching him do it was such a great reminder of the power of embracing life’s moments, no matter the age.”

"To describe my grandpa’s personality, I think my other family members would agree that he is quite stubborn and determined," she adds. "Even if every single one of us told him not to run those bases, he still would’ve done it. He sets his mind to something, and he will do it! With that, he is also full of life and always has been. Always energetic and laughing. He always shows up for his family and engages in fun activities at his age. There is no stopping this 85-year-old, that’s for sure!"

She continues, "A saying he said recently that stuck with me was, 'If I rest, I rust.' And that sentence right there describes my grandfather’s personality perfectly."

In that moment, Crothers says her first instinct was to pull out her phone and film, assuming it might be the last time her grandfather would ever run the bases. As she recorded, she found herself in tears.

“My grandpa is so incredibly inspiring and full of life, and he LOVES sports, so I know this moment meant a lot to him,” she says. “He is always willing to push limits and prove to himself that he can still do things at his age. But I also had some slight fear in my head, hoping he wouldn’t fall, considering he just got a hip replacement a few months ago!”

“Talking to him now, he said he wanted to run the bases one more time in his life, and this felt like his opportunity to feel like a kid again,” Crothers explains. "It was such a special moment — our whole family was watching from the stands, laughing and crying at the same time."

Later, the 24-year-old, who works in communications, decided to post a video of the moment on TikTok. She says she often comes across heartwarming clips on her feed and hoped sharing this one might brighten someone else’s day.

She posted it before going to bed, and by the time she woke up, the video had racked up thousands of views. It didn’t stop there. Since then, it has garnered more than 3 million views and over 4,700 comments.

“The comments on the video have been even more heartwarming than the actual video,” she says. “People from all different ages are commenting, sharing their own memories with their grandparents. People of older ages are sharing that the video inspired them to live their lives to the fullest.”

“Many comments were along the lines of, ‘And in that moment, he was just a boy running the bases again,’ or, ‘We forget it’s their first time living too,’ ” she continues. “Those comments really stand out to me, because it is so true. Elderly people were young once, and they are still figuring life out up until their very last moments.”

When Crothers first told Persich about the video going viral, she says he didn’t fully understand just how far it had spread until she explained that major accounts, including MLB, were reaching out.

At first, he was both shocked and humbled.

“He loved reading the stories people shared about their own grandparents and how inspired they were to live more fully," she says. "You could see how moved he was by the love and encouragement from complete strangers. He told me he felt so honored that people cared this much about him and his story."

"For someone who has spent his life showing up for others, it was really amazing for me and our whole family to see other people show up for him," she adds. "From my perspective, he’s the most deserving person of all this love, and the world gets to see what I’ve known my whole life.”

"My grandpa has always shown up for us, and this moment was a reminder [of] how much life he still has to show up with," she continues.

Read the original article on People