Surprise! Watch TODAY anchors reunite with old friends on the plaza

The season of reunions is here!

With the official start of summer just days away and pandemic-related travel restrictions lifting, for many, it’s time to get together with familiar faces again — whether that means a class reunion, a family reunion or even just gathering together with any old friends for the first time in a long time.

And that's just what happened on the plaza Tuesday, as the TODAY gang were surprised by coming face-to-face friends they haven’t seen in years.

The emotional moments kicked off with anchor Savannah Guthrie, who saw a few banners flying in the crowd for her old alma mater, the University of Arizona. But while the banners made her smile, it was the face of her old best friend, Melissa Manas, that dropped her jaw.

“Melissa, I can’t believe it!” Savannah said as she reached out to embrace her friend. “I’m shocked.”

But the spotlight didn’t stay on their sweet moment for too long, since there were so many others to get to.

Next up was weatherman Al Roker, who didn’t just reunite with a friend when he spotted Lou Borrelli on the plaza. He reunited with a mentor.

“Oh, my God!” Al raved. “Sweet Lou!”

Al and “Sweet Lou” go all the way back to their college radio station days at WOCR at the State University of New York at Oswego, when Lou helped usher Al into his some of his first broadcasts.

“How are you, big boy?” Al beamed at he looked on at his friend, who even wore a bright-blue pair of Rocker-inspired eyeglass frames for the special moment.

For Carson Daly, it was a “Total Request Live” reunion, because the friend waiting to surprise him was Tony Disanto, a man he worked closely with back in his MTV days.

“This is my man right here!” Carson shouted after he discovered Tony in the crowd.

As he pulled his old pal in for a hug, Carson added, “We created ‘TRL’ together.”

Craig Melvin rushed to Robert Goings when he spotted his Kappa Sigma fraternity brother on the plaza, and he was truly taken aback by the appearance — partly because it’s been so long since their last reunion and partly because Craig thought he knew exactly where Robert was.

“I was just texting with him, he was like, ‘Oh, I’m duck hunting in (Argentina).’” Craig explained.

“Came back for you, my brother” Robert said.

That makes sense as these two have fostered their friendship far beyond their days at Wofford College.

“He sang at my wedding," Craig said of Robert. "And I was in his wedding.”

And finally, after the others had their sweet reunions, anchor Hoda Kotb spotted a bunch of Virginia Tech banners waving and knew she was about to get into the reunion fun, too.

“Mary!” she yelled as soon as she spotted her Delta Delta Delta sorority sister Mary Robertson. "We were college roommates. I can’t even believe you’re standing here."

The happy tears flowed, as Hoda added, "I'm shocked!"

And that surprise was genuine, as Savannah confirmed.

"This is insane," she said, still holding on to her friend. "We’re never actually surprised that much on this show. This is shocking!"

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