Nathan Rimpf has seen this crowd brought to its feet before. As a kid, he would make the trip from Raleigh to East Carolina University to root for his brother, Brian.

But on Saturday, the cheers at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium were for Nathan — not applause for an athlete, but a salute to a soldier.

Nathan Rimpf, a 2010 ECU graduate, was among those honored during Military Appreciation Day. Fitted with prosthetic legs and feet, the Army first lieutenant stepped out onto the field for the coin toss less than four months after stepping on an explosive device in Afghanistan.

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