KC Chiefs' Jeff Allen Thanks Roadside Rescuer With AFC Championship Tickets

KANSAS CITY, MO — Snowstorms hit Kansas City so hard last Sunday that many motorists en route to the big game between hometown heroes the Chiefs and the visiting Indianapolis Colts found themselves stranded by the deluge.

Some travelers even faced dangerous conditions — such as the Chiefs’ offensive lineman Jeff Allen, whose SUV skidded off the road and landed in a snow-bogged ditch.

To be sure, Jeff Allen really, really needed to get to Arrowhead Stadium before the kickoff. As the OL tried to figure out how to get out of his predicament, a driver who identified himself simply as “Dave” happened by and provided help.

Without question or hesitation, Dave hooked up Allen’s stranded vehicle to his own 1997 Chevy Suburban and pulled it to safety. From there, Dave reportedly took off before the OL could properly thank him.

On Monday, then, Jeff Allen took to Twitter in hope of finding Dave the Good Samaritan so he could pay him back with AFC Championship Game tickets. It worked.

Social media enabled Allen to track down the right man, although he jokingly did tweet, “despite the recent influx in people changing their name to Dave in the KC area lol.”

The helper turned out to be Dave Cochran, a lifelong Kansas City resident who is homeless and has been actually living in that Chevy Suburban with his girlfriend and their dog since falling on hard times.

Cochran had no idea the stranded driver was Jeff Allen, nor that he played for the Chiefs. Talking to a reporter, Cochran said:

“I didn't know who it was. I just asked him if he needed help and he said yeah. Afterward, he told me he was a Chiefs player. I didn’t look at him as a Chiefs player, I just looked at him as a normal person… and I hope that he would do the same for me as I did for him.”

After Allen hooked up Cochran with three free tickets to this weekend’s big game, the Samaritan added:

“It’s like a dream come true. I saw the message this morning, and I am not going to fake with you — call me soft if you want to, homeboys — I started bawling to know he is a man of his word and he reached out to contact me.”

In addition to the tickets, Cochran’s kindness has moved thousands of other people to help him via offers of shelter, employment, and donations. The auto repair staff at KC Glass also fixed and replaced all the windows in Cochran’s battered vehicle for free.

Dave Cochran is tremendously moved by the outpouring, but he sums up his decision to assist another person in need simply by saying, "A human being is a human being, I mean. I was just doing what I normally do. I just like to help people."

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