Three University of Pittsburgh football players stranded at Dallas Airport hitch a ride from UTEP basketball coach Joe Golding on NINE-HOUR long Christmas Day drive to El Paso for the Sun Bowl
- After their flight was cancelled, three Pitt players needed a way to get out west
- UTEP coach Joe Golding was also stuck in Dallas and headed to El Paso as well
- Golding rented a car and offered to give them a ride for a 9 hour, 600+ mile trek
- Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi thanked Golding and his family for their generosity
- Click here for all your latest international Sports news from DailyMail.com
<!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
The 1987 classic comedy ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’ is set during Thanksgiving. But 35 years later, a real-life, Christmas Day version of that story played out for three players on the University of Pittsburgh football team.
Three Pittsburgh Panthers players – junior Hudson Primus and freshmen Samuel Okunlola and Jake Frantl – were stuck at a Dallas airport on Christmas Day trying to join the team out in El Paso some 600+ miles away after their flight was cancelled.
Luckily, another passenger on that flight was University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Miners head men’s basketball coach Joe Golding, who noticed the three men stranded and offered to give them a lift for the nine hour drive west.
Three Pitt Panthers football players were left stranded at a Dallas airport on Christmas night
Golding said after also being stranded, he quickly secured a rental car contract just before supply of vehicles ran out.
‘I see these three guys, and they have Pitt bags on, and they start talking about playing in the Sun Bowl and having to get to El Paso and there wasn’t any cars left,’ Golding told KTSM’s Colin Deaver on Monday.
‘And I was like ‘hey, if we can find a big enough car, I’ll take you guys home.’ They were like ‘who are you?”
Seeing them stranded, UTEP head basketball coach Joe Golding offered to give them a ride
After explaining to them who he was, the three players – a defensive back, a defensive lineman, and a backup quarterback – piled in with Golding, his wife, and his two children for the long ride in an SUV across the state.
‘Out here in West Texas, that’s what we do,’ Golding continued. ‘I didn’t even really think twice about it.
‘I would hope somebody would do that for Cason and Chase one time if they were stranded somewhere on Christmas night and needed a ride home.’
Pitt Panthers head football coach Pat Narduzzi thanked Golding for his generosity & kindness
Pitt football coach Pat Narduzzi confirmed all of the details of the story to local reporters, thanking Golding for his kindness.
‘Yesterday afternoon, we had a couple of guys get delayed on flights, they got stuck in Dallas,’ Narduzzi said. ‘Joe Golding, the basketball coach for … University of Texas-El Paso, him and his wife and child picked up and took our three guys and drove them because the flight was delayed to get them here for practice.
‘They got here late last night, and I just wanted to give a shoutout to those guys. Just goes back to the hospitality. Great job by Joe and we appreciate it.’
Narduzzi added that he hadn’t heard of or med Golding prior to the events of Christmas night.
Golding initially responded through Twitter to Narduzzi, saying, ‘My family and I were blessed to give a ride to Samuel, Jake, and Hudson. They were terrific young men that represented Pitt football in a first class manner. I educated them on West Texas, they educated me on Pitt football and Stack’d burgers! I’m a Pitt football fan now!’
Frantl, a redshirt freshman, also took to Twitter saying, ‘Great man and awesome family! Will never forget this Christmas story!’
Pitt will now turn its focus to playing the no. 18 ranked UCLA Bruins in the Sun Bowl this Friday, Dec. 30 at 2:00pm eastern.
Pittsburgh now turns its attention to playing their game in the Sun Bowl against no. 18 UCLA
More Stories
Furious Lions star Dayne Zorko claims AFL has legalised attacks on players’ genitals after rival who left him with ‘bruised’ groin got off with just a fine
Manchester United 2-3 Borussia Dortmund: Errors in defence lead Ten Hag’s men to defeat in Las Vegas
LeBron James ‘kept telling diners how grateful he was’ to be at dinner with son Bronny, 18, just four days after his cardiac arrest in basketball practice