After missing his own prom, Browns' Joe Haden heading to prom with Independence student

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio - It’s going to be a prom to remember for an Independence High School student who landed a big dog as her prom date.

Joyce Grendel, 18, sent a tweet to Cleveland Browns football star Joe Haden and he said yes.

“I was screaming. I couldn't believe it. I was so excited,” said Grendel. "I got like two hours of sleep that night."

This story really begins about a year ago. Grendel had become a member of Haden’s fan club and the two had begun tweeting one another. Grendel said Haden would often post trivia on his Twitter page. She said her and her best friend Lacey Mencl would often solve the trivia before anybody else. 

Grendel said she and her family were at the Chocolate Factory last June when Haden tweeted he was out at the Corner Alley in Cleveland. Grendel tweeted back that she was across the street. Haden invited her and her brother, Matt, who was celebrating his 21st birthday, to come and join him.

“They ate and bowled together,“ said Carrie Grendel, mother of the excited teen.

When it was time for prom this year, Joyce Grendel didn’t know who she would go with. She told NewChannel5 that her date, Lacey's cousin, had canceled and said he couldn't make it. Carrie said she and her son, Danny, told Joyce to take a chance and ask Haden. To their surprise, Haden began to inquire when and where the prom would be before eventually agreeing to go.

"Once he agreed, I didn't know what to do," Joyce said. Lacey was the first to notice the tweet.

"I was on my way home," Lacey said while waiting to get her make-up done before the prom. "And I got the tweet and I was trying to call Joyce over and over. I'm like Joyce, Joe responded."

Around 4:30 p.m. on Friday, in a white Lamborghini sprinkled with red and sliver rims, suicide doors opened and out came the seventh overall pick in the 2010 NFL draft. Haden wasted no time looking for his prom date to take pictures.

She wore a purple dress and her hair was part way up with curly locks. The two will be headed to Windows on the River in Cleveland, where the prom started at 6 p.m. and ends at about 11 p.m.

Carrie said her daughter plans to attend Ashland University next year and study sports management.