MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) - A quick-thinking couple came to the rescue of a cat that captured fans’ attention and made national headlines after he was seen dangling from an upper deck at Hard Rock Stadium during this weekend’s Miami Hurricanes’ football game.
Saturday’s widely recorded feline rescue was the most talked about catch during the Hurricanes’ game against Appalachian State.
“We looked up, and you could see the butt of an animal,” said Kimberly Cromer.
The animal held on for dear life before it fell nearly 50 feet in the middle of the game.
“My video got like 10 million views on TikTok,” said spectator Dylan Marinov.
Marinov, a freshman at the University of Miami, captured a heart-stopping, up-close view of the tense moments.
“The cat was up there for like 20, 25 minutes, and it wasn’t really moving,” he said. “I wasn’t recording in the beginning, because nothing was really happening, but then it started moving a lot, so then I thought, ‘What if it falls?’ So then I started recording, and after a few minutes, it ended up losing its balance and ended up falling.”
Luckily for the feline, Cromer and her husband were right below and acted swiftly to ensure a soft landing.
“Really, our only choice was to either try to catch the animal, or it was going to fall on us,” she said.
Cromer’s husband, Craig Cromer, described what happened next.
“My wife takes the U.S. flag with us to all of our football games, and we normally ZIP-tie it to the handrail, and so we snatched it off the handrail and used it to break the cat’s fall,” he said.
The catch sent the crowd into a frenzy.
Even Manny Diaz, the Hurricanes’ head coach, joked about the animal.
“I’ll tell you, if the cat can help us in our red zone offense, I’ll see if we can get him a scholarship,” he said.
The four-legged visitor appeared to be OK.
As for the Cromers, they said they’re just happy to have been in the right place at the right time.
“I wouldn’t consider myself a hero. I think anybody sitting in that seat would have done it,” said Kimberly.
“It was good to save the cat. The students were obviously very passionate about it, and you could tell that because, after the cat fell, they were quick to snatch it up,” said Craig. “They didn’t care that they got bitten or scratched or anything.”
It remains unknown how the cat managed to get inside the Hard Rock Stadium or who it belongs to, but 7News has learned it left the venue with a woman on Saturday night.
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