BUFFALO, N.Y. — If you ask Demone Harris to define adversity, he may just look in the mirror. The former Bishop Timon and University at Buffalo football player had quite a week.
He was a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers until he was cut after the team played in London last week.
He came home to Buffalo for a big weekend. He was planning to propose to his longtime girlfriend Arianna Marinelli.
"I got a call from Baltimore saying they wanted to fly me out as soon as Tampa Bay cut me. We immediately were kind of scrambling like OK we need to pack our bag again."
He says his girlfriend threw his items including a suit jacket into a duffel bag. She didn't know that is where he was hiding an engagement ring.
While in Baltimore he tried out and was told he wouldn't be signed.
En route to Buffalo from Baltimore he realized the ring was missing.
"The ring is gone now I'm like come on I'm at the airport no job right now, no ring and things are looking real bleak for me at the moment," said Harris.
He returned to the hotel, but couldn't find the ring, and then flew to Buffalo ringless.
Meanwhile he gets a text "100%" the Ravens sign him and then a phone call that the ring was found by a housekeeper.
The surprise engagement was set for Friday night at the Chop House. The ring was sent overnight... and then he proposed.
The girl from Williamsville that he met at a prom when they were there with different dates.
"I was more concerned about the ring than my job, screw football this is about the girl I've been with for seven years."
The 23-year-old who grew up in the Donovan housing development on the east side of Buffalo is positive and credits his mom Ramona Holcomb.
"Adversity is inevitable, it's how you respond to it that defines you."
He rewarded the housekeeper with gift cards. He told 2 On Your Side's Claudine Ewing, the woman reminded him of his mother. She was once a housekeeper at ECMC.