Cosby The Friendly Ghost Appears To Young Man In Penn Relay
It was a scene out of a track & field horror film.Gibson crashed to the ground, his baton bouncing alongside his tumbling body. As the crowd gasped, Collier leapt past the fallen runner and across the finish line. Frantically searching for his baton, Gibson tried desperately to end the nightmare. Finally clenching his lost baton, Gibson rolled across the finish line - in fourth place.
“I just tried to keep going,” he would later say. “The line was right there.”
Laying motionless on his back, Gibson stared into the overcast sky above. He tried to figure out what had just happened. Suddenly, a figure dipped into his line of sight.
In front of the young man, a hand was extended. And there stood the legend of legends at the Penn Relays.
“I couldn’t believe it was Bill Cosby,” Gibson recalled, still in utter disbelief. “He said ‘Get up, you did good.’”
As the crowd rose for a standing ovation, Cosby pulled Gibson off the track and threw his arm around him like a father. The two walked stride for stride as Philadelphia’s favorite comedian whispered in the 18-year-old’s ear.
“He kept saying, ‘It’s OK, it’s OK,’” Gibson said.
Before parting ways with Gibson, Cosby stopped and clenched his shoulders.
“He asked if I’m going to college and I said ‘Yes, I want to go to college, but I still need some help to get into a good university,’” Gibson said proudly. “He said, ‘Don’t worry, you’re going to go.’ I asked him if he really thought I could make it to college and he said that I have heart and I’ll make it if I work hard.’”
With that, Cosby extended his fists in front of Gibson, who promptly pounded his on top. They smiled at each other and went their separate ways.
“I still couldn’t believe it was him,” Gibson said. “When I looked up, I thought it was God. But then I said, ‘Whoa, that’s Bill Cosby.’”
Anyone could be forgiven for the mistake, son.
EveningBulletin: Stars Of Track And Field Are Beautiful People
