Dance team member Stephanie McLaughlin stood on the 50-yard line as a picture of a heart pumped on the screen during the halftime of the football game Nov. 6. While the words, “Stephanie, Caleb has a question for you…” scrolled across the scoreboard, Stephanie’s boyfriend, Caleb Head, ran up behind her to surprise her at center field.

Caleb said the first thing Stephanie said to him when she turned around was, “You’re dead.”

After some conversation between the two, Caleb got on one knee and brought out a white box containing a ring with as many diamonds as Stephanie’s favorite number. He then asked Stephanie in front of a stadium full of family, friends and football fans, if she would marry him. The crowd cheered when they saw her say, “Yes.”

Hand-in-hand, they ran off the field to be congratulated by family and friends.

Even though everything went smoothly, Caleb, sophomore business management major, was still nervous before he proposed. In fact, so was his mother, Glenda Head. She said she was both happy and scared before he asked the big question. The advice she gave him before he proposed was to “calm down.”

Caleb had been planning the special halftime proposal ever since he came up with the idea two and a half months ago.

“I wanted something different, something that friends and family could see,” he said. “I wanted it to be special for everyone and special for us.”

However, Caleb said the details weren’t easy to arrange. First, he had to find out if it was even going to be possible for the proposal to fit in amidst all the performances at halftime.

Caleb found Kevin Greim, sports marketing director, and talked to him about the idea.

Caleb said he is very thankful for Greim and all the hard work Greim put into the details of the proposal.

“It wouldn’t have been possible without him,” Caleb said.

Caleb and Stephanie have been together for nine months; they originally met through friends two and a half years ago. They knew in May they were right for each other.

Stephanie said she knew he was going to propose soon, but she didn’t know when.

He surprised her recently with a chicken dinner served by candlelight. With jazz playing softly in the background, he served their meal and told her to close her eyes because he had a surprise for her.

When Stephanie opened her eyes, she saw Caleb on one knee. From behind his back he brought out a cake and instead of proposing, asked her what she wanted for Christmas.

Caleb said he wanted to scare her to see if she’d think he was going to do something else.

Regardless of all the work, he was dedicated to making sure everything was in place for the proposal to go smoothly. Caleb said he’d do it “over and over again.”

“It’s like what Jimmy Stewart said. ‘If I could lasso the moon I would,'” Caleb said. “If I couldn’t, I’d at least try.”