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The story of several UK basketball players spontaneously singing Happy Birthday and giving gifts to a 16-year-old celebrating her birthday at a Lexington restaurant is starting to get national attention.

The fun happened soon after the Cats won the SEC Tournament. Several players went to P.F. Chang's in Fayette Mall to eat and celebrate with a specially-made cake. The family of Bekah Sams happened to be at the restaurant at the same time celebrating her 16th birthday.

According to an e-mail from Sams's father, at one point, his oldest daughter went to the table where the players were sitting to "tell them why we were there, and would they mind wishing her sister a happy birthday."

According to the father, the players did much more. "Patrick Patterson, Josh Harrelson, John Hood and Perry Stevenson walked over behind Rebekah (at the head of the table), and Patrick leaned over her shoulder, gave her a hug and asked her name and how old she was. After she told him he straightened up, raised his arms and said to the entire dining room “Hey, it’s ‘Bekah’s 16th birthday, so why don’t we all sing to her?”

Josh kicked it off, and those four players, our table, and the rest of the patrons in the dining room sang Happy Birthday to her! You can imagine the impact this had on her. She had an ear-to-ear grin that might have been the widest I’ve ever seen on a person! They also gave her a cake that someone had brought for them. It was a store-bought cake that read “Congrats Cats, 2010 SEC Champs”. Josh said “we’ll never eat this, why don’t you take it”. Then there were a few more “thank you’s” and handshakes, and they left the restaurant. As you can imagine, all eyes were on our table, and we again thought that was just the coolest thing that could happen, and that it was definitely a memorable birthday.

"About 5 minutes later, we were still talking about what had just transpired, when back through the front door walks Harrelson, with his hand behind his back. He walked up to Rebekah and said “do you think this would be a good birthday present” and brought his hand from behind his back to present her with a basketball autographed by the entire team, and personalized with the words “Happy Birthday Bekah, Big 16”!"

The story has now been posted on the TMZ.com website. You can view pictures of the players singing and other photos of the happy occasion by clicking here.