Kyle Rudolph surprises female football star from Brainerd

In addition to being a very good football player, Minnesota Vikings’ tight end Kyle Rudolph has shown more and more in recent years that he’s a pretty good guy off the field, too. He’s done a lot of work with the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital, and he had a big surprise for one of Minnesota’s increasing number of female football players.

Lili Charlier, a young woman from Brainerd High School, attended the grand opening of the new Dick’s Sporting Goods store in Baxter, Minnesota, with her father. Charlier is the first female football player in Brainerd High history, but she’s taken part in many other sports as well. She’s even going to college next year at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. . .on a rugby scholarship.

The folks from the sporting goods giant heard about Lili’s story, and wanted to recognize her for being an inspiration to other female athletes. When they got there, Rudolph was waiting there as a surprise.

The folks from Dick’s Sporting Goods were kind enough to provide us with video of the meeting. The video is a little long-ish (about 13 minutes or so, with some legal stuff taking up the first minute and a half or so), but hopefully everyone will enjoy it.

Again, it’s always cool to see members of the Minnesota Vikings getting out and doing these sorts of things with fans and what not. Thank you to the folks at Dick’s Sporting Goods for giving us the opportunity to share it with all of you.