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.
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.
