As the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, Dak Prescott is used to fans gifting him stuff. When he got handed a Cowboys hat last week, he didn’t pay much attention to it. That’s at least until his daughter pointed out the artwork on the hat.

It was the face of his late brother, Jace, who died to suicide in 2020. Since then, Prescott has been an avid advocate for mental health and suicide prevention. After receiving the gift, the Cowboys quarterback met with the artist behind the hat, Mario Corona.

Corona shared some of his story with A to Z Sports following the special moment.

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The man behind the hat

The artist behind the hat is Mario Corona, a stay-at-home dad that not too long ago started drawing cartoons on shoes. Why? In 2020, Vans announced its The Simpsons collection. After purchasing a pair, Mario believed he could do better than that. So he got to work, drawing classic Cartoon Network and Peanut characters on sneakers and dress shoes alike.

“I started with cartoons, something I was a lot more confident I could do,” Mario says. “When the Eagles played the Chiefs [in Super Bowl LIX], I was able to find a slightly more animated picture of Saquon Barkley.”

Though Mario is a Cowboys fan, he took the chance to make something special for a close friend of his who is an Eagles fan. Mario describes his friend as his biggest supporter in this project.

“That piece gave me a little bit more confidence in tackling some realistic portraits,” Corona says. “I did a few hats for myself around December last year. And since April, I’ve been trying to start selling, start moving. Hopefully get some money coming in.”

Mario has been a stay-at-home dad for almost a year, often working on his hats in the gaps while his daughter (whose portrait was on his hat while talking to A to Z Sports) is sleeping to help support his household. He also works nights on weekends, but that isn’t stopping him from what he hopes becomes a stable business.

Angel hats and Dak Prescott’s gift

Mario admits he second-guessed how well his hat for Dak would be received. But he knew he put a lot into it with one goal in mind.

“I wanted to do a hat that (Dak) would truly, truly love,” Mario says. “Whether that’s wearing it, whether that’s just having it on the mantle, on the wall, just looking at it.”

For Mario, it wasn’t his first time taking on such an emotional project. In fact, Corona’s first commissioned hat was to a friend of his whose brother passed away. Since then, he puts a lot of thought into what he calls “angel hats.”

“I feel truly honored in any angel hat that I make,” Corona says. “It’s a little tough because it’s really emotional and I try my hardest to capture them and their spirit, their memory.”

Sometimes, the projects are a little bit more personal.

“I actually have a cousin that passed away that I’ve been wanting to put on a hat that was actually designed by his brother, my little cousin,” Corona shared. “A lot of meaning and significante on this hat.”

The hats often go beyond the portrait. For example, the hat dedicated to his cousin already has symbols that represent three brothers. The hat he gifted Dak is no exception.

“There’s a lot more in Jace’s hat that I wish I could have explained to Dak and show him,” Corona says. “Because there’s a lot of thought and meaning that I put into the hat in hopes that he really liked it.”

Dak sure did, as family members have reached out to ask for more hats honoring Jace.

More than a portrait

Among those hidden details, Mario revealed it was a hat mostly made of felt. The reason? He knows it’s a warmer material than usual, one Prescott was unlikely to wear in the summer heat. But one likelier to be optimal for the colder holidays season, when “it’s a time you want to see your family, you want to be around your family.”

“I picked that hat because it felt more fitting when it came to the holiday time,” Mario explains. “I felt like that’s when I really wanted Dak to love it.”

There were two more details Mario was very intentional about. One, he numbers every hat he makes, including his tribute to Jace to show it’s a one of one. Secondly, Mario signs every hat he makes but this one had a dark gray tone instead of regular white to “not take attention away from Jace and his image.”

The Cowboys quarterback met Mario after practice in Oxnard, California. Since his visit to training camp, Corona’s social media accounts, which you can find on Instagram as Corona’s Custom Caps, are growing.

Within the first few hours since he left camp, he gained a couple hundred followers. That number is likely to keep moving up as his designs continue to go viral, including a Cowboys hat with George Pickens on one side and CeeDee Lamb on the other.

If you want to check out his work, Mario regularly uploads videos of his work—both finished product and and behind the scenes looks into his work.