Taylor Collins wore more than one hat Saturday after a tragic crash caused chaos at Oklahoma State University's Sea of Orange Homecoming Parade.
Collins, of Celina, Texas, is one of two men who currently represent the university as the Pistol Pete mascot. He rode on the Pistol Pete float toward the beginning of Saturday's parade and was already finished and had gone to get breakfast with his sister at a café just down the street when the pair noticed a police car racing by.
Sensing something was wrong, Collins went to find out. He pulled in a parking lot at the scene.
"From there, we could tell something bad had happened," Collins said. "People were rushing around and a man came over to me and said, 'We need a pickup truck to do transportation.'"
Collins didn't hesitate. He pulled his truck across the police tape guarding the scene and removed his Pistol Pete head and other gear from the truck to make room for those who were injured.
"One was in the truck and they were waiting to get another in the truck, and my daughter was sitting in the truck with one of the other little boys, and you don't know what to do. And she just turned around and started praying with him," said mother Betty Collins.
"A medical person said, 'Wait.' He was going to get another person to put in the bed [of the pickup truck], and that's when he went and got Alleyn. We set Alleyn back in the bed and from there we closed the tailgate and headed to the hospital," Taylor Collins said.
In the chaos of it all, Taylor Collins did not get the names of those he was helping. They were rushed into Stillwater Medical Center for care.
He later learned the boy in the bed of his truck was 12-year-old Alleyn Campbell. It was at the hospital where Campbell's mother realized who helped her son get to Stillwater Medical Center, and she told Alleyn it was none other than Pistol Pete.
Alleyn suffered a broken leg, a concussion and a shoulder injury among others, according to a spokeswoman for Stillwater Medical Center. He remains hospitalized.
Since, Taylor Collins has returned to visit Campbell in the hospital along with OSU President Burns Hargis and his wife, Ann, members of the OSU football team and members of the Stillwater High School football team.
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Taylor Collins said while he recognizes Campbell's family is thankful for his actions that day, there were many others who rushed to help the injured as well.
"Makes me feel good, I appreciate that," he said. "My sister and I, we happened to be in the right place. We were able to help out in a bad situation."
Taylor Collins graduated from Celina High School and is currently a senior at OSU studying engineering. His family says they are proud of both their children for their actions that day and others from Celina have shared their praise on Facebook.
"Taylor is a great, big-hearted young man," Betty Collins said.
"I really hope that would be a silver lining in Alleyn's experience. Maybe he won't remember – they say kids are so resilient – maybe he won't remember the tragedy of the scene. Maybe he'll just remember his new friend Taylor Collins that was Pistol Pete that drove him to the hospital," she added.
Taylor Collins went on to assume the role of Pistol Pete Saturday afternoon for OSU's homecoming football game. He was able to get his costume from a group of cheerleaders who took it to the stadium for him.
