Former South Carolina TE Hayden Hurst helps pay for surgery for TV anchor’s dog

Mike Gillespie, the sports director at a Columbia TV station, ABC-Columbia, put out an urgent plea this week for help in paying for abdomen surgery for his dog, Wilbur.

A GoFundMe page was setup in search of $5,000, and in less than 24 hours, Gillespie tweeted, “we met our goal. God is good.”

A notable donation of $3,000, which finished off the goal, came from former South Carolina TE Hayden Hurst, who was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens, but now plays for the Atlanta Falcons.

And to cap it off, we were $3,000 away from that goal a little while ago, and look who paid the rest. That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for us, @haydenrhurst. I have no idea how to repay you or what we did to deserve this, but we’re so thankful…especially Wilbur. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/S9CZDJdIZw

— Mike Gillespie (@MikeABCColumbia) September 15, 2020

Hurst replied and deflected attention from himself and said someone would’ve done the same for him if the roles were changed.

Hurst had three catches for 38 yards on Sunday in the Falcons’ loss to the Seattle Seahawks. He was targeted five times, and had a long catch of 27 yards.

Hurst, a former minor league baseball player, who was one of the nation’s top tight ends in 2017 as he was named first team All-SEC by both the Associated Press and by the league’s coaches. He was a semifinalist for both the Mackey Award, which recognizes the nation’s best tight end, and the Burlsworth Trophy, which recognizes the nation’s top walk-on.

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.