Man who rescued victims during Buffalo snowstorm gets Super Bowl tix
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Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A Buffalo, N.Y., man who rescued 24 people during a deadly snowstorm in the city last month has received two free Super Bowl tickets from Bills football legend Thurman Thomas.
Jay Withey, who became known as "Merry Christmas, Jay," broke through the window of a school to help bring people to shelter there on Christmas Eve, leaving a note explaining to the school why broke in, ESPN reported.
Snow-covered cars line a side street a few days after a winter storm rolled through Western New York Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)
"To whom it may concern," Withey wrote in the letter, "I'm terribly sorry about breaking the school window and for breaking in the kitchen. Got stuck at 8 p.m. Friday and slept in my truck with two strangers just trying not to die. There were seven elderly people also stuck and out of fuel. I had to do it to save everyone and get them shelter and food and a bathroom. Merry Christmas."
On Friday, Thomas and his wife Patti gifted Withey with two tickets to Super Bowl LVII.
"It's very humbling to be rewarded the way I've been rewarded, and whether it's just a gift or people telling me good job it's just very surreal very humbling," Withey told WKBW-TV.
"And I never would have imagined that I would get Super Bowl tickets. So my brain was literally melting trying to comprehend what was going on in that exact moment. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity once in a lifetime thing," he said.
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