Four former William Paterson University football student-athletes were caught on camera and became a national story in August of 2013. The story was shared of how the four were seen on a surveillance system leaving money to pay for their purchases at an unattended local store.
As it turned out, Buddy’s was closed for the day, but for door’s lock malfunctioned and the store’s lights were on, leaving the impression that the store was open for business. The student-athletes’ anonymous, honest acts were caught on the Wayne store’s surveillance cameras, and the video quickly garnered wide-spread attention after first being broadcast on News 12 New Jersey.
In all, nearly 750 media outlets across the country picked up the story, including NBC’s Today, ESPN.com’s Rick Reilly, ESPN Radio’s Mike and Mike, ESPN’s SportsCenter, The Maury Show, USA Today, Yahoo!, CNN, The Star Ledger, News 12 New Jersey, NBC 4 New York, ABC 7 New York, CBS 2 New York, Fox 5 New York, The Record and WCBS