The Dayton Dragons have sold out more than 1,000 games in a row thanks, in large part, to aiming to give fans a memorable experience. Late last month, seven-year-old Hunter Samworth had one he’ll remember for a lifetime.

Hunter, who is deaf, saw the Dragons’ mascot, Heater, and asked if he could go say hello. When he began to sign, both the mascot and his escort surprisingly signed back.

“The smile on his face was ear to ear,” Hunter’s father, Matt Samworth, said on The Today Show. “I couldn’t even speak. I was just in awe. I was like, this is something that he’s going to remember for the rest of his life.”

This was one of those simple twists of fate. The mascot’s escort is a sign language interpreter and the man playing the mascot is learning the language.

As Mike Lopresti detailed in a 2011 column for USA TODAY Sports, the Dragons, the Class A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, have been using “customer service from the heart and a connection to the people” to set an American record for consecutive sellouts, despite sometimes middling results.