After N.C. State upset previously undefeated No. 1 ranked Duke on Sunday, N.C. State fans stormed the court. One of those court stormers happened to be in a wheelchair, and Dick Vitale feared for his safety live on air. He was actually one of the first people to rush (roll?) the court, as you can see here.
Don’t worry, he’s fine. The kid’s name is Will Privette, a senior at N.C. State majoring in communications, and he’s been in his wheelchair his whole life. He did end up getting knocked onto his side, cracking his phone and losing his glasses, and momentarily losing his wheelchair too. But then N.C. star C.J. Leslie came to the rescue and picked up Will, who proceeded to continue yelling in celebration. Here’s Privette with the entire story, via USA Today:
“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.”
But Privette didn’t just try to film the event – he did film the event. As you can see in his first person video below, he was flying really fast into the scrum until he toppled over.
He even lists himself as a “professional court stormer” on his Twitter page, so all’s well that ends well.
UPDATE (11:58): There’s now a photo, via Will Brinson, of Leslie holding Privette post-wheelchair toppling. Big tip of the cap to Oliver Sholder, who took the photo.
- Filed Under:
- court storming
- Duke
- N.C. State
- wheelchairs
Source:
http://www.sportsgrid.com/ncaa-basketball/first-person-wheelchair-court-stormer-video/