The crew prepares to rescue Webb’s SUV. Courtesy | James Webb

Hillsdale students face-planted in mud to rescue a professor’s SUV earlier this month.

Associate Professor of Accounting James Webb’s car was stuck in a large muddy puddle for six days before the students pushed it out.

Webb owns several acres of woods behind his house outside of town, and had taken the car out to pull tree stumps. The two-wheel drive SUV spun out in a low, muddy spot in the woods. Next came several days of rainstorms. 

Webb considered calling a tow truck, but then he remembered Hillsdale’s dedicated volunteer group, A Few Good Men, were coming out to help him cut up trees that fell in the storms.

“Their reputation precedes them,” Webb said in an email. “AFGM had been out in the same woods helping during last year’s homecoming week, and they had a team available.”

When the team arrived on the scene, it did not know of the predicament. It set about moving the vehicle nonetheless.

“What shocked me the most was that I didn’t know about the truck being stuck until we got to the job,” crew leader and senior Angel Jimenez said. “Usually, for something that big, we get a heads up, but we didn’t know about it. But we were ready to handle anything, so we saw it, assessed the situation, jumped into action, and things went smoothly. We were able to adjust on the fly.”

Once the nine-person crew realized the project ahead of them, they got their hands — and legs — dirty.

“The team was super dynamic,” Jimenez said. “I was shocked at their ability to just jump in and be willing to literally get their feet dirty, get in the mud. I had some hesitancy, but they were willing to jump into action, and I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s what we signed up for.’”

Sophomore Isaac Trotter said he ended up covered in mud, and that freshman Edward Boeke also slipped and fell face-first into the mud.

“When we got down there, the water was up to over half of the tires, it was touching the bottom fender of the car in the front and then the back was just barely on some very muddy ground,” Trotter said. “As we were pushing, we were slipping and falling down into the mud, and so it was a messy job for sure. It probably took us four or five rounds of pushing. I had mud all up my whole leg because I fell. I didn’t fall into the watery part, but it was just like straight mud everywhere.”

Webb attributes the rescue to two factors.

“Knowledge from Physics 201 and the pure strength of youth,” Webb said. “We wedged traction boards behind the back wheels. Three team members sat in the back to add weight. Six super humans took off socks and shoes, waded into the muddy water, and pushed from the front.”

The news reached College President Larry Arnn. After the work was finished, Webb sent an email to Arnn with the subject line “Heroes that walk amongst us.” The email listed the names of the nine students involved in the rescue.

“It really is a sign of how unique our student population is, and I want to brag on them,” Webb said. “This incident may be a unique one-off, but I know their teams help people in real need throughout our community every week of the school year. AFGM is tied with the Accounting Club as my favorite student group. I think readers should consider joining both.”

Jimenez said the group does not seek attention.

“We didn’t know that we were going to get broadcast because at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter,” Jimenez said. “We do it for the person, do it for our Lord, and it just so happens that every once in a while we get noticed, which we’re super grateful for. But ultimately, it is for God and for our neighbor that we do it.”

Webb is grateful for the enthusiasm A Few Good Men showed.

“A collective roar with associated honking may have been heard by neighbors near and far,” Webb said.