Rockmart team rescues wreck victim

The Rockmart boys tennis players see the crash and help out after their playoff win.

The boys tennis players see the crash and help out after their playoff win.

The Rockmart boys tennis team were riding high on their Elite Eight win on the way home Tuesday afternoon, relaxing in the bus when the group saw something unexpected happen right in front of them.

Five of the players, along with parents, were riding in a caravan when the driver and two passengers in a truck had passed by the group driving from Early County to Rockmart. They’d passed the truck driving in erratic fashion many miles before on U.S. 27, but it had caught back up to the group in the Fort Benning area. That’s when Sondi Vest, a parent on the team, said the team saw a wreck happen before their eyes.

She said the driver must have lost control, because the truck went into the median and then overcorrected and went toward the shoulder, then after crossing over two lanes again flipped and went rolling off the side of the road. Two people were ejected from the truck, another remained inside.

“One of the men was pinned up under the truck, and he was screaming because the exhaust was burning him,” Vest said.

With the help of two team dads, five of the players lifted the truck off of the injured man while an off-duty firefighter from Tallahassee pulled him free from under the wreckage. Vest said that two of the victims in the wreck were airlifted out by U.S. Army helicopters since the wreck happened on Fort Benning property.

“They felt it was God putting them into a position to help those people,“Vest said.

Head coach Barry Owen said it was just another example of how stellar his players are as young men, and they represent the best example of a Rockmart Yellow Jacket.

“I am not surprised by the fact that these boys, without hesitation, left their vehicles and ran to help these people,“Owen said by email. “They are all high character kids that are always willing to help in any situation.“

He said that “there have been numerous occasions where I have had opposing coaches and parents make it a point to tell me, or them, that they admire the way they handle themselves on and off the court. They are a pleasure to coach and I am proud of how they came to the rescue of these men.”