CSC football fans have exciting trip to Chadron

The Emanuels were traveling west on U.S. Highway 275 a few miles east of Ewing late Friday afternoon when they came up behind a westbound pickup truck that was weaving from one lane to the other. Although a few vehicles eventually passed the pickup, a string of from eight to 10 stayed behind, with the drivers obviously wondering what to do.

Then came the scary part, according to Chad, a CSC graduate, former football star for the Eagles and a member of the board of directors for the Chadron State Foundation, besides being one of the CSC football team’s most faithful fans.

The pickup forced an oncoming semitrailer to take the right shoulder.

“I was surprised that the semi didn’t roll or overcorrect and take out some of the cars that were behind the pickup. It could have been ugly,” Chad said during a telephone conversation Monday. “After that, I knew I had to do something.”

At the first opportunity, Chad gunned the couple’s Lincoln MKS, went around the pickup, slowed down and stayed in front of the pickup until the driver was forced to stop. Another vehicle, driven by Bill Wellner of Spencer, closed behind the pickup. Chad then approached the driver and offered to take the wheel. The driver agreed and Cheryl drove the Emanuals’ Lincoln to Ewing.

Cell phones were used to call law enforcement personnel, who met the entourage in Ewing, a village of about 500 located 21 miles southeast of O’Neill.

“We attracted a lot of attention,” Chad said. “Eventually there were three State Patrol cars and three deputy sheriffs there. All the people who had been behind us followed us into Ewing and stopped to see what they could do. We had quite a convoy.”

Undoubtedly those involved anticipated that alcohol was involved, but Chad said the driver told him he had bumped his head, had stopped in Norfolk for medical attention and was given some medication that had an adverse effect.

“He was disoriented, and was not coherent,” Chad said. “He obviously needed help. I don’t know why he had kept driving. He didn’t smell like he had been drinking.”

Chad added that the pickup, a Chevrolet from the early 1990s, had out-of-state plates.

It was Wellner who initiated this story. Late Friday, he sent an e-mail to the Chadron State sports information office with details of the incident. He did not know the names of the couple in the Lincoln and asked if someone at CSC could identify them. Wellner said the driver was wearing a Chadron State sweater with “Football” printed below the college’s name. He also noted that the Lincoln had Iowa plates.

After a bit of pondering, Chadron State personnel suspected it was the Emanuals, placed a call to them to verify the suspicions and learned more about the incident.

“I would like to get his name to turn into the Nebraska State Patrol for some sort of recognition for his civic-mindedness and bravery,” Wellner wrote in the e-mail. “I’m convinced he saved lives tonight by getting this guy off the road and he deserves to be honored for his actions.”