LOUISVILLE, Ky. — You've seen him hanging from a rope off the side of the Clark Memorial Bridge, and almost a week later, he's seen sitting behind Coach John Calipari at a University of Kentucky (UK) basketball game.
Bryce Carden, the Louisville firefighter who rescued a semi driver after a multi-vehicle crash on Friday, March 1, was honored before the national anthem at Wednesday's game.
"This is huge, I grew up a Cats fan since I was a little boy, my parents met at the University of Kentucky," he said. "It's huge, it's a great feeling to be here and just, go Cats."
The driver whose car stalled on the bridge that fateful day said she had bought the car from Carvana on Leap Day. After it stalled, she said everything happened fast.
"I saw a blue pickup truck with a badly injured person in front of me and I look behind and I see the semi," Hess said. "You see this woman is hanging out, I mean, you can see her and you're thinking, it's a wonder she's not dead."
She said the direction the semi driver took to avoid more collisions likely saved lives and gave credit to everyone on the bridge for saving hers.
Carden also revealed his father died six years ago following complications from surgery but was such a dedicated Wildcats fan that he couldn’t go out in public and watch the games. He had to stay home and “holler at the TV.”
During the game, Rob Dillingham scored 23 points, including consecutive 3-pointers just before halftime, Antonio Reeves added 20 in his home finale and No. 15 Kentucky rode 56% second-half shooting to pull away from Vanderbilt 93-77 on Wednesday night for its fourth victory in a row.
The Wildcats (22-8, 12-6 Southeastern Conference) went back and forth with the Commodores (8-22, 3-14) for much of the first half before taking the lead for good just before the break as Reed Sheppard made the first of Kentucky's four straight 3s. Dillingham followed with a pair before Reeves capped the run with another from deep with three seconds remaining for a 45-40 edge.
-------------------------
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.