Angie Samuels has long considered herself a devoted Texas Rangers fan, but now she's partial to the Texas Longhorns, too.

Samuels, the new wife of a car dealership executive in Austin on an extended business stay, slammed her car into a retaining wall on Interstate 35 about 11 a.m. Tuesday. Soon after the accident, she was approached by a person she recognized as Longhorns running back Cedric Benson.

"He was the first one to get to me and was asking me if I was OK," said Samuels, who was driving to her hometown of Aledo, just west of Fort Worth, before she totaled her Chrysler Sebring convertible. "I couldn't even find the switch to roll down the window. He asked if he could call anyone, and I told him my husband worked over at the dealership. And off he went."

The wreck occurred close to the Allen Samuels Dodge dealership at 7309 N. Interstate 35, where Samuels' husband, Jerry, works as the general sales manager, so Benson ran across the highway to find him. He told Jerry Samuels that his wife had been in an accident.

"I asked if she was OK," Mr. Samuels said. "He said, 'Yes, she looks OK.' "

Another motorist phoned for assistance and emergency medical personnel and police arrived soon afterward. Angie Samuels suffered minor bruises and refused treatment, according to an EMT spokesman.

The Samuels, who have been married for five months, did not see Benson again until Wednesday night, when Jerry attended a Texas football practice to shake hands with Benson and thank him.

"In all the commotion (Tuesday), I didn't get to thank him," Jerry Samuels said. "Angie was lucky there wasn't another car beside her, and she was also lucky that Cedric got to her first."

"I just did what I was always taught to do," Benson said Wednesday at practice. "You see someone who needs help, and you help them. I was just happy to be in the right place at the right time to lend a hand."

Benson's show of kindness came three days after he completed a brief jail sentence, which stemmed from his no-contest plea to a misdemeanor charge of criminal trespassing. He was arrested and charged last October, when Austin police said he kicked down an apartment door in a failed attempt to recover a plasma television he had reported stolen.

"God bless him," Angie Samuels said. "He was very kind to me."

The Samuels intend to repay that act of kindness, too, right after they relocate to Austin this fall.

"The first thing we're going to do when we move down is buy season football tickets," Jerry Samuels said.

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