An unforgettable moment: Trevone Boykin's kind gesture sparks fame for Iowa State fan Abby Faber

Trevone Boykin is a gift that keeps on giving.

A gift on the field, Boykin leads one of the nation's top offensive attacks every week. Off the field, an Iowa State family learned how generous Boykin is.

The Cyclones team up with Blank Children's Hospital for each home game to name a kid's captain, who accompanies Iowa State's captains for the opening coin toss.

Abby Faber, a seven-year-old with spastic diplegia cerebral palsy, was the captain for Iowa State's game against TCU. A photo of Faber and Boykin went viral after Boykin squatted down to speak with Abby following the coin toss.

"The only words we seem to use are crazy and unbelievable and we got to come up with more words to describe it than that, but those two words sum it up," said Steve Faber, Abby's father, in a phone interview. "It's just mind-boggling really."

Fort Worth Star-Telegram photographer Paul Mosely captured the gesture that has since gone viral. The photo and accompanying stories have been on various media sites, ranging from ESPN.com to Yahoo Sports to Today.com.

Boykin's small, heartwarming gesture was impactful enough on the family, but after going viral the family is now seeing an even greater impact.

Abby's page on youcaring.com, a crowd-funding site, has received over $20,000 following all the media attention that has surrounded Boykin's gesture. The page says the donations will go towards Abby's ongoing physical therapy as well as vision therapy.

Many of the donations have come from TCU fans with messages such as "Sending love from a Horned Frog Alum!" or "Keep fighting Abby. The Frogs love you."

Charlie Neibergall/AP

Steve took to Facebook to express his gratitude to the many who donated.

He wrote: "I'm Steve, Abby's dad and our family is completely blown away by all of this. Who would have thought that an innocent and honest act of kindness would come to all this. We are truly humbled by all this attention and the outpouring of love fans that both sides have shown.

"This has drastically changed our lives and yes we love those Frogs. Please take home the national championship and rest assured Mr. Boykin has six more fans than he had a few days ago. Once again we thank all of you from the bottom of our hearts."

Abby has taken her newfound fame in stride. Steve was discussing how one of the major networks had picked up the story, to which Abby responded, "I'm famous!"

Abby has also received extra attention at school, where her teachers and classmates are aware of her celebrity status. After rounds of interviews on local TV, Abby was thrilled to see her picture keep popping up on the news.

As happy and excited as the family is, they might not even be the most excited by story. After reading through the kind comments from TCU fans, Steve said, "They're more excited about it then we are I think."

The touching moment happened before a football game, but is so much bigger than sports, Steve said.

"It's about helping out a little girl who nobody knows," Steve said. "Not one person from Texas knows Abby, a handful of people from Iowa State know Abby, but for everybody to get together and kind of share a common goal, it gives you faith in humanity again."

The Faber family has a small gesture planned as a way to thank Boykin for his kindness. The family wants to send Boykin a copy of the famous picture with a thank you note from Abby.

Chris Wolff is SI's campus correspondent for Iowa State University. Follow him on Twitter.