Adidas donates new equipment to Selma football team

Less than a week after losing more than $70,000 of equipment in a bus fire, the Concordia College Alabama Hornets are sporting brand-new football jerseys, helmets, pants and shoes, courtesy of Adidas, the German sportswear company with U.S. headquarters in Portland, Ore.

Concordia College Alabama’s Khalil Osborn unpacks his jersey Sept. 26, 2013, in the locker room at Demopolis High School in Demopolis, Ala., as the Hornets prepare for their game against the University of West Alabama. Adidas donated jerseys, pants, shoes and other equipment to the Selma, Ala., Hornets who lost everything in a Sept. 21, 2013, bus fire. (AL.com/Julie Bennett)

“It’s just a miracle,” Concordia Trainer William Hall said of the boxes of Adidas gear that arrived on the college’s Selma, Ala., campus about 11 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 26.

All 62 people on the bus — players, coaches and the bus driver — escaped unharmed when the vehicle blew two tires, igniting the gas tank and setting the bus on fire en route to Birmingham, Ala., on Saturday, Sept. 21. (See Reporter Online story, “Concordia, Selma, football team escapes burning bus.”)

To read more about the gift from Adidas, see the AL.com story “Outpouring of support for Concordia—Selma culminates in new equipment from Adidas.”

The Green Bay Packers also plans to donate equipment to the Hornets. The professional football team wears the same colors — green and gold. A Packers representative called Concordia, Selma, Sept. 27 and offered gold pants and socks, which are expected to arrive before Homecoming on Oct. 5.

Local high schools — including Jefferson Davis in Montgomery, Morgan Academy in Selma, and Dallas County in Plantersville, Ala. — also donated equipment to the Hornets.

Updated Sept. 30, 2013