Whoever said no good deed goes unpunished should have a word with Jay Withey.
Withey helped save two dozen people during a winter storm in Buffalo last month by sheltering them in a school. The Buffalo Bills and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York, which sponsors the team, thanked him for his actions by posting a video Jan. 13 of retired Bills running back and Pro Football Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas and his wife, Patti, surprising him with two tickets to the upcoming Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona.
Withey went viral for leaving a note of apology in the school for damaging school property while explaining he had to take drastic action to keep everyone safe.
“To whom it may concern, I’m terribly sorry about breaking the school window and for breaking in the kitchen,” he wrote in his letter.
“Got stuck at 8 p.m. Friday and slept in my truck with two strangers just trying not to die. There were 7 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,” he concluded, signing the note only with the name Jay, prompting people to wonder the identity of the man.
“We love you. We know what you did on Christmas Eve was very heroic and you are our hero, and the Bills and Highmark want to present you with these tickets to go watch the Super Bowl,” Thurman Thomas said while presenting Withey with the tickets.
“We just want to say thank you for all you did and we love you. Buffalo loves you, buddy,” Patti Thomas said while giving him a hug. “You’re a hero to us and to everyone else.”
Withey is stunned at how his actions resonated with others.
“I can’t believe the amount of reach-out it got,” he said. “I mean, I got thank-you letters from Australia. I can’t believe how far it got, but it was wild.”
Whether Withey will get to see the Bills in the Super Bowl remains to be seen. The team defeated the Miami Dolphins in their AFC wild-card game on Jan. 15 and will next host the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 22 in the divisional round. The two teams, of course, had their regular-season game earlier this month canceled after Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest.