Diehard Fans

SELMA, Ala. (WPMI) - Think you're a big football fan?

How about living through a plane crash on your way to the game, and still making kickoff?

It actually happened to a group of Alabama fans on Saturday.

"I really thought we weren't going to make it for a while. I'm ready to be with the Lord, but I've got a lot of family and stuff," said John White-Spunner, one of the plane survivors.

White-Spunner is an Auburn grad, but his Bama buddies convinced him to join them on their trip to Tuscaloosa.

They had planned a quick stop in Selma for some barbecue.

That's when it all went bad.

One of the engines died.

Moments later, the other engine began to sputter.

20 miles from the airport, they were quickly losing altitude.

They prepared for a crash landing.

At 100 miles an hour, they could see nothing but tree tops.

Then they spotted a dirt road.

It was a crimson runway, but they literally were not out of the woods just yet.

They clipped the trees, ripping the plane's wings apart.

The captain, George Arnold managed to maneuver the wounded Cessna into a cotton field, but the danger wasn't over.

Fuel was pouring out of a ruptured fuel tank.

A nearby family heard the plane go down, and came over the hill expecting to see something much different.

"They got out of their car, and everybody started hugging. We got in a circle, and got on our knees and said a prayer to Jesus," Arnold said.

When they realized they still had time to make it to the game, the gang got moving, and made it in time for kickoff.