Video Coordinator, Deon Thompson and Some Other Tar Heels Player Act Heroically

Fine, it was Tyler Hansbrough. But, share the headlines, right? The details: this past Thanksgiving Day, while the North Carolina mens basketball team sat on a plane, anxious to flee annoyingly-utopic Maui for Chapel Hill, something went horribly wrong. The Love Guru began showing as the in-flight movie. Also, a man on the plane had a seizure. Whether it was induced by the frenetic death rattle of Mike Myers' once virile career is unknown at the moment, but the point is, something had to be done. Luckily, a flight attendant made a bafflingly specific request for aid, which the number one team in the nation was in a unique position to respond to:

When attempts to wake him failed, a flight attendant yelled for assistance from some “big, strong basketball players." Within seconds, Hansbrough had sprung from his seat six rows up and rushed to the man’s side...Holding him chest-high, [Hansbrough, Thompson and the Video Coordinator] carried him to the galley, where paramedics rendered aid for nearly 30 minutes.

You know, if you read that paragraph out of context, changed "paramedics" to "nurses", and winked at the "rendered aid" part, you've got yourself a whole different type of airplane story there.

In all seriousness, good on these guys. I hereby award them the first annual Tony Gonzalez Award, awarded for displaying leadership in the field of "Really? People don't treat you like enough of a hero in your day-to-day existence, that you have to literally go out and save somebody's life?"

Actually, I guess the video coordinator doesn't technically qualify. But what the heck - keep it, ya big, film-splicing, heroic lug, ya.

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Hansbrough, Heels aid ailing man on plane [Yahoo]