The Harding University High School football team got quite a shock Tuesday when actors Kevin Hart and Ice Cube showed up in their weight room, along with Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton.
Hart and Cube were in Charlotte to promote their new movie, “Ride Along 2,” which opens in theaters January 15. Newton was there to deliver a $7,500 check from his foundation. The money will be used to buy new equipment for the team.
Newton was out in Charlotte Tuesday on his second annual Santa Cam Surprise Sleigh, making stops across the city and greeting children and fans for five hours. Dressed in a red sweater with a black Santa Claus doing the dab, Newton began the afternoon at Metro School, which serves mentally and physically handicap children, according to The Charlotte Observer.
He also made stops at Dick’s Sporting Goods at SouthPark Mall, where he gave $200 gift cards to 25 elementary schoolers, and at Dilworth Neighborhood Grille, where he greeted fans.
At Harding, Newton dared the 5-foot-4 Hart to bench press 225 pounds, and Hart accepted the challenge — he benched the weight three times and then dabbed, the Observer reported. (Video below.)
“Your dreams are only as small as your mindset allows you to be,” Hart told the high schoolers. “You got a vision, you keep that vision. You stay true to your vision. You’re looking at three men who were determined to get to where they got, man. You don’t get there by being a person that quits and gives up. You don’t do that.”
