Special holiday story at DePaul and assistant coach Billy Garrett

Gather the kids around the fireplace, space heater or whatever brings you warmth and comfort during this holiday season, and listen to this tale of a good Samaritan named Billy Garrett.

Garrett, a DePaul assistant basketball coach, was battling the elements of last weekend's super storm trying to fly home from Baltimore-Washington International Airport after a recruiting trip when he spotted a blind woman and her 8-year-old daughter trying to navigate their way through a sea of human chaos. Flights were being canceled as quickly as the snow was falling on this whiteout of a Saturday morning, resulting in a collective angst among holiday travelers.

Garrett needed to be at the Allstate Arena for the Blue Demons' 1 p.m. game against Texas State.

Blocking out the surrounding bedlam, Garrett watched this woman struggle to reach the ticket counter.

"The airport was a zoo," Garrett said. "She was having trouble with their bags. Nobody was very attentive to this lady.

"She and her daughter were just standing there, and people were walking around them like they were pieces of furniture.

"I asked if she needed help making her flight. It turned out her flight to Mobile, Alabama, had been canceled. She was trying to get home to join the rest of her family on a holiday cruise.

"I helped her rebook on Southwest to Midway Airport. From there, she was on a different airline to Atlanta, and then on to Mobile."

Imagine the trust - or is it faith - this woman must have had to believe in the kindness of a stranger whom she couldn't even see.

When Garrett disembarked at Midway, he noticed the same lady looking lost in a strange airport.

"It's me again," Garrett said to the woman, whose name was LaTonya. "Do you need some help?"

Garrett had a one-hour window to reach the game in Rosemont. He was on his way to retrieve LaTonya's luggage when he found out she had missed her flight to Atlanta.

All the other flights to Atlanta were overbooked. Her cell phone was dying out and she didn't have a charger.

"There was this one flight, but it was going to cost $700 more, and I couldn't pay for that," Garrett said. "I couldn't leave them stranded at the airport, but it was getting closer and closer to game time."

That's when Garrett may have experienced a Vincentian moment.

"What had bothered me at first was all the people who walked right by her - too caught up in the hustle and bustle of their own lives to even notice this woman and her child.

"Then, it hit me. What bothered me even more was that I was only too willing to help out - -when it was convenient for me. As soon as it became inconvenient ..."

Garrett gathered LaTonya's bags and said: "I'm a coach at DePaul and I've got a one o'clock game. I'd like you and your daughter to come as my guests to the game and sit in my seats. After the game, we'll get everything straightened out."

They hopped in a cab and soon enough, LaTonya and her daughter were hootin' and hollerin' for the Blue Demons. DePaul athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto gave the little girl a Blue Demons T-shirt.

Little did Texas State know that it didn't stand a chance against that kind of holiday magic.

After the 86-69 Blue Demons' victory, Garrett brought the newest DePaul fans to a Holiday Inn Select, paid for their room and helped make arrangements for a 5:30 a.m. flight Sunday. A hotel manager assured Garrett he would make sure LaTonya made it to the airport.

"She was very gratified and asked me for my e-mail address to thank me or maybe send me something," Garrett said. "I told her that wasn't necessary.

"I said: 'Just have a Merry Christmas.'

"What kind of feeling did I have after that? It was nothing special. Anybody could have done it. I'll always remember they were so happy when they came to the game. I guess we gave them a reason to be happy on a miserable day.

"When I asked why she didn't apply for special assistance or transportation around the airport, she said: 'I can walk! I just can't see.'

"I've been blessed. I have a job, a roof over my head, all my senses. I can see.

"I can truly admire a woman like that."