Saline County’s finest came together off field

Fear flooded War Memorial Stadium on Saturday night, and even though it would turn out to be a false alarm, pandemonium is but a moment away when mass murderers from around the world fill the news.

More than 38,000 came to watch the Salt Bowl, the annual football showdown between rivals Benton and Bryant, a rivalry that transcends sports. But from the moment someone shouted gun and a loud noise was heard, who lived where no longer mattered.

As the Benton players ran for safety, many took their helmets off and put them on the Bryant cheerleaders.

Friends not foes. Neighbors not rivals. Football be damned, this was one Arkansan helping another. There were no teams, no color and no politics.

Zac Bradley shared his story on Facebook and social media shared it with the world.

He was part of the 1998 J.A. Fair football team and made a lifelong friend, Kwik “Neiko” Tolbert, who is in a wheelchair because of a traumatic disease. Zac took his girlfriend, children, Neiko and his nephew to the game.

They found seats in the north end zone, the trouble spot where an altercation early in the third quarter became panic, and they left as fast as they could until they ran into three flights of steps and Neiko, surrounded by the kids to protect him from the pandemonium, took the steps slowly but surely.

Then, a Bryant football player, LaTavion Scott, and a Benton football player, Jayden Nash, still in uniform stopped to help.

Zac wanted to get beyond the zoo for safety reasons. Scott, who scored two touchdowns during the game, picked Neiko up and carried him every step with Jayden at his side like a pulling guard.

In those moments they helped a man who couldn’t walk and a dad “frantic to get his kids to a safe place.”

On Sunday Zac, who played baseball at Yale, penned the eloquent story of what happened and his heartfelt gratitude for those young men. By Monday afternoon more than 1,000 had read it, 136 commented and 239 shared it.

Saturday night was a lesson of life, humanity and humility. Of players from border cities who reached across the lines and helped any who needed it.

What happened was like a warning.

Fingers can be pointed, but the simple fact is it was a wild reaction to the world we live in and fortunately it was not real gunfire.

Monday, officials from both schools and Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism were meeting, and everyone wants to do more in the future to ensure everyone’s safety. Measures will be taken. This game, created by Shane Broadway for both communities, has grown to be a major central Arkansas event.

It is one of the football season’s first games and over the years has developed into a year-round discussion for residents of Benton and Bryant. Understand they compete in everything from football to baseball to attracting restaurants and businesses.

Yet, in that moment when a tidal wave of fear and unknown washed through War Memorial Stadium they were all from Saline County.

In a time when worldwide violence leads the news, when concertgoers are shot down in cold blood, when it isn’t safe to go to a nightclub and even churches, and elementary schools can be targets it is hard not to think the worst when you think you heard a shot and someone yells gun.

Young and old raced for safety Saturday night, and even though it was a false alarm, everyone from school officials to state employees to law enforcement are taking it seriously.

In that moment, though, some young men and women took the time to care about each other, and there were no boundaries.