USA Health resident thought she was touring the stadium – until he proposed

On Saturdays in the fall, Hancock Whitney Stadium is home to thousands of Jags fans eager to see their team dominate on the field. The spot also now holds special memories for a couple who became engaged there in a surprise proposal this summer.

Dominique Moreno, D.O., and her fiancé, Kyle Rolfe, D.V.M., met at Auburn University while completing their professional degrees. After graduation, Moreno matched for residency at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry while Rolfe began working as a veterinarian at Bit & Spur Animal Hospital in Mobile. It was there that he met the family of Joel Erdmann, Ph.D., director of athletics for the South Alabama Jaguars.

Eventually, Rolfe approached Erdmann’s wife, Tina, about the idea of organizing a surprise proposal at the new stadium. Together, the Erdmanns and Rolfe secretly orchestrated a plan to surprise Moreno.

Under the guise of offering a tour to new medical professionals in the area, Erdmann invited the young couple to the stadium. Moreno was under the impression that the tour was to end in an interview focusing on what brought them to the Mobile area. She even practiced interview questions the night before, in preparation.

On July 3, the couple met Erdmann on the north side of the stadium on USA’s campus and took the tour, as planned. After visiting the locker rooms and walkout area, Erdmann paused the tour to ask if the couple was interested in taking photos at the center of the field.

“I could tell something was going to happen because Kyle was acting really nervous,” Moreno said. “He’s usually very jokey and outgoing, but he was unusually quiet in that moment. I thought he might have been nervous about the interview that we were going to do. Then, he looked at me, and he had tears in his eyes.”

As Rolfe got down on one knee, Moreno said everything became a blur.

The proposal was not the only surprise that day. After Rolfe popped the question, a hidden audience emerged from suites in the stadium’s press tower to applaud the newly engaged couple. The group included Rolfe’s and Moreno’s closest friends and family members, some of whom had travelled from as far as Michigan to celebrate the proposal.

“It was a total surprise that they were in town!” Moreno said. “Most of my family isn’t from Mobile, and Kyle’s family visited from Oklahoma, so he arranged for them all to travel to be here for it.”

The couple spent the rest of the holiday weekend celebrating with their friends and family. They are planning a wedding in 2022 on the Alabama Gulf Coast.

“We made the decision after I matched here for residency to move here and buy a house,” Moreno said. “We’ve loved living here. I’m so glad we are spending our lives together in a city that is so special to us.”