Twirler's boyfriend engages fans in perfect proposal

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Illinois feature twirler Mandi Patrick was proposed to by boyfriend Andrew Estep at halftime Saturday.

Patrick, a graduate student and the feature twirler for seven years, has been dating Estep for six months.

"It's been a short dating time, but when you know, you know," Patrick said. "It's great dating someone from Illinois who knows the tradition and wants to come to the games and be part of the atmosphere."

Estep graduated from Illinois in 1993 and finished his MBA in 1995. The couple met on a blind date set up by one of his former professors and one of her baton students.

I-Block leaders told Patrick to come to the student section after the band performed at halftime Saturday, because the students had a cheer for her. When she approached, a group of her baton students were holding orange and blue flowers and a banner reading, "Mandi, Will you marry me?"

"And then for two or three minutes, I can't find Andrew anywhere, I'm looking around, I don't see Andrew," Patrick said, recounting the proposal. "And then he pops out of I-Block with a tux on and pink roses, and gets down on his knee, and I-Block is going crazy, they're screaming and yelling."

The surprise was almost spoiled when Interim Chancellor Richard Herman congratulated Patrick on her engagement before it happened.

"As I was walking over there, the Chancellor comes up to me and goes, 'I heard you got engaged,'" Patrick said. "And I wasn't engaged yet. My mom was like, 'Shut up, she better not be!'"

Saturday was also Patrick's last home football game. She will graduate in December with a master's degree in hospitality and tourism management.

"It was perfect. He combined my favorite thing in the world - Illini football - with one of the best days of my life."