Rachel Banham thought she was recording a regular video, the sort of thing she has been asked to do countless times as a star player first in high school at Lakeville North, then with the Gophers and now as an established WNBA player with the Lynx.
Lynx guard Rachel Banham on her viral moment getting engaged to Andre Hollins
The two former Gophers guards were engaged recently. It was caught on video in a surprise to Banham.
February 10, 2022 at 2:53PM
As it turned out, Jan. 3 was anything but an ordinary day.
The premise for the video, shot on the court at Williams Arena, was a ruse. It was a set-up from longtime boyfriend Andre Hollins — also a former Gophers basketball standout — for a major moment: a marriage proposal.
On Thursday's Daily Delivery podcast, I had a chance to talk with Banham about a variety of subjects. But I couldn't resist getting more details about that big day — with Banham offering a lot of hilarious insights into her thought process as it was happening.
"Being filmed was not new to me. That was normal," Banham said of what appeared at first like a promotional video for the Women's Final Four coming to Minneapolis this year. "But I had just had a long day, and I was so ready to be done with the interview. And then when he came up behind me, first off he scared me. He always scares me and I hate it. It boils my blood. But I was like, I'm almost done with the interview, I'm hangry. I want to go home'."
But then ...
"I'm like Dre, 'what are you doing'? And then I was like wait he's dressed really cute," Banham said. "What's going on? This seems weird? And I started to catch on."
The engagement was the culmination of the couple knowing each other for about a decade, going back to their early days with the Gophers.
"I'm definitely the weirdo. He laughs at my jokes, which I really appreciate," Banham said. "He's awesome. Anyone who knows him knows he's a great guy. We love sports. We just chill. We're both super-chill and we pretty much do everything together."
And Hollins will be able to watch Banham continue to play for the Lynx, as it was announced this week that she re-signed with the team for 2022.
You can watch the video of their engagement, by the way, to see the genuine surprise for yourself. The Twitter video has been viewed more than 100,000 times.
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