Dallas

Arlington Bowie Football Coach Danny DeArman Rescues Woman From Flooded Waters in North Texas

Danny DeArman said he never got the woman's name after police arrived to take over

There have been dozens of rescues as torrential rains pounded North Texas over the weekend -- but the actions of one high school football coach stand out.

Danny DeArman did not stay on the sidelines when flash floods threatened a stranded motorist in Caddo Mills.

In the six years DeArman has been head football coach at Arlington's James Bowie High School, he has tried to instill core values on his players.

"We live by family, integrity, selfless and toughness," he said.

They are values he hopes go beyond the field.

"I think our world would be in a much different place if everyone had a servant attitude and we quit worrying about the negativity," he said.

It is DeArman who embodied the very qualities he teaches Saturday when he and his wife Sarah drove by vehicles overtaken by flood waters on a service road to Interstate 30 in Caddo Mills.

"[Sarah] said, 'Oh my gosh, they're stalled out!' So I hit the brakes," he said.

DeArman's wife called 911 and began to record as he waded through the waist-deep water after one car caught his eye.

"A woman was in there and she started to panic. I saw her hand hit the glass and she was motioning for help," DeArman said. "When I saw her put her hand on the window it was over."

He didn't hesitate to jump in, but before he could even get to her DeArman found himself in trouble.

"It went from ankle, knee, thigh, it was at my waist and once the current hit me, I could not stand up anymore," he remembered. "The current took me to the culvert…I knew if I went under I wasn't coming back so I held onto the concrete, worked my way back to where I could get my feet on the ground again."

DeArman walked toward the woman without shoes on.

They had been swept away.

He said another motorist was able to bust out the woman's window.

"By the time I got her on my back and was headed out, there was only about two feet of her car out of the water," he said.

The moment DeArman carried the woman on his back was captured by his wife on video.

"I do remember carrying her and the whole time was constantly, 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry. God bless you.' I said, 'Ma'am I can't even feel you on my back,'" DeArman said.

He placed the woman on higher ground and left before he got her name.

"I don't think I did anything anyone else wouldn't have done," DeArman said.

He said what he did was "nothing special" and was not heroic.

It was simply a kind act, he said, and a lesson in giving, especially for his team.

"Hopefully this will be an example for them, you know because it goes beyond football. It's about life," he said.

DeArman hopes other motorists "turn around, don't drown."

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