BOB PRATTE
Levy Randolph has captured widespread attention recently, thanks to his Rose Bowl wedding proposal. Randolph, a 2008 Hemet High graduate who credits the school’s ag program for boosting his self-confidence, rented the Rose Bowl for $1,000 to propose Oct. 14 to Tiffany Rogers. He met Rogers while participating in an FFA (formerly Future Farmers of America) Rose Parade float. They got to know each other at more FFA events and fell in love. Randolph was national FFA president in 2009. Rogers was a national FFA officer in 2010. Randolph posted a Candlelight Films-produced video of his proposal on Facebook on Oct. 20 for friends and family to see. It was widely shared and quickly became an Internet hit, receiving about 4 million hits. “It all happened in two days,” said Randolph, who is pursuing a master’s degree at University of Florida in agricultural education and communication, with a specialization in agricultural business. “There were over a million hits in 48 hours, maybe a million and a half. It was on Huffington Post. Ashton Kutcher shared it on his website and Facebook. It was on CBS and ABC and a bunch of bridal sites.” To view the video, simply Google “Levy Randolph Rose Bowl proposal.” Lots of sites will appear in the directory. Randolph said by phone that he planned the surprise proposal for 17 months. He hired the Texas video company and arranged for family and friends to travel to California. In the video, his fiancée, who is an agricultural communications graduate student, was duped into travel- ing to California when told that Randolph’s father, Levy Randolph Sr. of Hemet, was receiving an award. When she arrived in California, she was surprised by her girlfriends. They boarded a limousine and enjoyed a day of manicures and pedicures, lunch at the Yard House and shopping. Along the way, Rogers, who is from Michigan, read clues about what might happen. She was led blindfolded into the Rose Bowl, where Randolph waited wearing a coat and tie. He knelt in the empty Rose Bowl and proposed. She accepted. He estimated the entire day, not counting the wedding ring, cost more than $7,500. He said he began saving with several bank accounts when he was 12. One of the accounts was for a wedding. “I am not a rich person by any means,” he said. “I am just a broke college student from Hemet, California.” Randolph said he wanted the video made as a keepsake, not to be an Internet hit. He said the video hasn’t led to any sort of riches, just fame. “It just got a lot of attention. It has shown people that you can take small moments and make them big,” Randolph said. “It shows it’s not embarrassing for a guy to show his significant other how much he loves her.” Surprisingly, Randolph wasn’t the first Hemet High graduate to be part of a oncamera proposal at the Rose Bowl. A year ago, 2009 Hemet High grad Chelcey Romeril accepted the proposal of Bruins football player Stan McKay on the field right after a game. “Their wedding will be in January in Mexico,” reported her mother, Kathy Romeril, a member of the family that operates Pierce Plumbing in Hemet. “Planning it as we speak!” CONTACT THE WRITER: 951-368-9078 or [email protected]