The Delaware State University women’s wrestling team began its inaugural season with more than matches to remember — they ended one tournament trip by saving a stranger’s life.
Returning from their first-ever competition at the East Stroudsburg University Open in Pennsylvania, the Lady Hornets found themselves at the center of a real-life Good Samaritan story in the early hours of Monday, Nov. 3, the school reported on its website.
It was about 2 a.m. when the 15-passenger Ford van carrying 13 wrestlers and coaches rolled southbound along I-95 in Delaware. Head coach Kenya Sloan and most of the team were asleep as assistant coach Brock Budesheim guided the van toward the Del. 1 exit. Then he spotted it — a disabled BMW stopped sideways across two lanes of the highway.
While other motorists sped past the car, Budesheim stopped.
“Coach Sloan had awakened, and I yelled back to Roger Pfister, our athletic trainer who’s also a volunteer firefighter,” Budesheim said. “We got out to assess the situation.”
Inside the BMW, a young woman sat, dazed and motionless, her phone resting in her hand. Airbags had deployed throughout the vehicle. She appeared to be in shock. The coaches managed to rouse her and guide her to safety inside the team van as Pfister called 911.
Meanwhile, Budesheim and Pfister stood in the road waving the lights from their phones to steer oncoming traffic around the wreck.
“Before we stopped, at least eight or nine cars sped by,” Sloan said. “And once we were there, at least 30 more flew past. No one stopped.”
Cars and semi-trucks continued racing past, tires crunching over debris and flinging broken car parts toward the coaches as they worked to protect the scene. Within five minutes, Delaware State Police and paramedics arrived.
“If someone had hit her car while she was still inside, I don’t think she would have made it,” Sloan said.
The team’s captain, Sumayyah Kemp, joined Sloan in comforting the woman inside the van until help arrived.
“She told us she was driving home to Delaware from an airport in New York City and had fallen asleep at the wheel,” Sloan said.
Budesheim later determined that her car had likely struck the median and spun to a stop in the middle of the highway.
“We believe we were meant to be there,” he said. “Everything that happened that day led us to that moment.”
The coaches explained that their tournament had stretched over 15 hours, delaying their return. Then, a failed food order forced a pit stop at a Wawa convenience store. Had dinner arrived as planned, they likely would have passed the crash site before the accident occurred.
Sloan credited her assistant coach’s quick thinking and her wrestlers’ compassion during the chaotic scene.
“We were all asleep, and Brock could have driven right by like everyone else,” Sloan said. “But he didn’t. Because of that, a young woman got to go home.”
For Delaware State’s first-year women’s wrestling program, the season may be young — but their heroism has already made a powerful debut.
I have never been more proud to be a Hornet is my life. Great job team.