It never hurts to work a side gig, though you would think that an NFL wide receiver wouldn’t necessarily need to.
This is about as “feel good” as a feel good story gets, and has to do with a selfless act from Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Trenton Irwin.
The Bengals wide out stayed busy preparing for this NFL season, but he was never too busy to help out in his community, and actually volunteered as a driving instructor during his free time outside of Cincinnati’s training camp this past summer.
Northern Kentucky University student Bry Hall wanted to work and help out in the Cincinnati, Ohio area, but there was just one problem: Bry didn’t have a car, and had never learned how to drive.
So, as Irwin points out to WLWT, he decided to step in and help her out:
“She didn’t have a vehicle and didn’t have an outlet to go get some hours in, and she wanted to take a driver’s test because she wanted to go work.”
Irwin and Hall had met each other at a community outreach program in the past, and stayed connected afterwards. When he heard that Bry was looking to take up driving, but didn’t have anyone to teach her, he was happy to jump in and help.
Bry was originally taken back when the NFL player first offered:
“He said ‘how would you feel if I help you with driving?’ and I was like ‘are you serious?’ Because I was… people don’t really do that.”
Trenton Irwin isn’t just any regular person, and excitedly took on the opportunity to help someone in need. He was even willing to put his car on the line in the process:
“I’ve got my little Toyota Camry… I was like ‘we can get a couple of scratches on that puppy, we’ll be fine.'”
Following practice at least once a week, Irwin, along with a mutual friend named Kelsey, helped Bry learn how to drive in empty parking lots and even go-kart tracks.
Even though Hall sometimes didn’t even know where the gas and break pedals were, Irwin and Hall stuck to the process and made sure she would one day be able to pass the driver’s test.
Irwin stayed positive about the whole thing, though there were some moments that made him nervous:
“I was always holding the little handles (of the car), she made fun of me for doing that, but I felt like a parent in the front seat, holding the handle and stepping on the break that doesn’t exist.”
After many trials and tribulations of practice sessions, it was finally time for Bry to take the driver’s exam, and Irwin was as excited as he would be catching a touchdown pass when he found out that she passed.
Since then, Hall has saved up to buy her own vehicle, and is now confidently driving around the Cincinnati area thanks to the help of one the Bengals football players.
And it doesn’t hurt to have a friendship with an NFL player, as Bry pointed out in the interview:
“Everyone is like ‘you’re friends with a Bengals player?’ and I’m like ‘yeah that’s my friend Trenton Irwin, he’s a great person.'”
You can view the entire news story about the pair’s unlikely friendship below:
