CJ Leslie is an American hero.
On Saturday NC State upset number one Duke. As the game came to a close, NC State fans stormed the court. Most interesting (and concerning) is the guy in a wheelchair who leads the charge and quickly gets swallowed up at the center of the pile.
Source: youtube.com
That kid in the wheelchair is Will Privette. He's an NC State student and diehard Wolfpack fan. Apparently when he got to half-court, he was knocked from his chair and almost trampled. This is the video of the rush from Privette's phone:
Thankfully NC State star CJ Leslie was there to save the day. He yelled for everyone to get back, and then he picked up Privette off the floor.
We rushed the court. We went straight to the middle, which probably was better because if we'd have gone to the side we would have gotten hit worse. We got right in the center, and as you can see in the video, I got hit from one side. It was like a wave. It toppled me over. I fell out of my wheelchair. I was on the ground, and I had my phone in my hand -- I was trying to film the event -- and the phone flew out of my hands and my glasses flew off my face. I was on the ground. I was like, "OK, what am I going to do now?"
C.J. Leslie was in the middle (of the crowd) and he saw me. I knew him from being around campus. He pushed everyone back and told everyone, "Get back, get back." Once everyone moved and realized what was going on, he picked me up and I've described it as like how you'd hold a baby. Once I realized I wasn't in trouble any more, I started to scream, like "Wooooo! Let's go!" C.J. held me for a little bit because we lost my wheelchair in the sea of people. He held me for a couple of minutes. I was screaming and yelling.
I patted him on the head and said, "Thank you." Then he put me in my chair, and the PNC Arena staff escorted me off the court to safety. After the game, I waited around for C.J. to say, "Thank you, thank you for helping -- saving my life, really."
It was the dumbest thing I've done in college but it was awesome.
(Read more of USA Today's awesome interview with Privette here.)