K-State football player Timmy Horne chose family over Texas Bowl. He has no regrets
Imagine waking up to news that your wife is about to give birth to your first child while you are more than 700 miles away from home preparing to play in one of the biggest football games of your life.
How would you react?
If you’re Kansas State defensive tackle Timmy Horne, you frantically schedule the first available flight out of Houston, race to the airport and get to your family in Manhattan. Who cares about football when you’re about to become a father?
“When my wife called me and told me that her water broke, my only thought was, I have to be there for my family,” Horne said. “I was going to do it by any means necessary. If I had to take an Uber from Houston to Manhattan I was going to do it. I just wanted to get there as soon as possible.”
Horne didn’t hesitate when he was faced with that unique situation earlier this week. His wife, Jasmine, called him at 5 a.m. on Monday to inform him she was going into labor roughly 39 hours before he was supposed to suit up for the final football game of his college career and make tackles against LSU at the Texas Bowl.
He had been preparing for the game for more than a month. He left his pregnant wife for Houston to help his team finish off the season with a bang. He hoped to be back by her side more than a week before her due date of Jan. 13.
But their daughter had other plans. Simone Nevaya Horne arrived at 11:16 a.m. on Jan. 3.
“Fortunately, we prepared for this,” Horne said. “As soon as we knew we were going to the Texas Bowl, I told the coaches about everything. If this happened, here’s what I need to do. They completely understood. That’s the best thing about Kansas State. They understand how important family is. They know family always comes first. They helped me out with that real good.”
The hard part was getting home at a moment’s notice.
There weren’t any flights available that would get Horne to Manhattan before nightfall, so he booked a flight to Wichita instead. He was in such a rush to leave town that he took an Uber to the wrong Houston airport before traveling all the way across town to barely catch his plane at 9:30 a.m.
Air travel can be stressful under the best of circumstances. This was from that. The 6-foot-5 and 326-pound senior was a nervous wreck sitting in the back of a small United jet that left Houston behind schedule because the pilot was late.
“I was about to ready to fly the plane myself,” Horne said. “I was cramped up in the back so anxious.”
Horne arrived in Wichita shortly after noon. As soon as his flight landed, he checked his phone for updates and saw several pictures of his daughter. She was born while he was in the air.
Tears of joy streamed down Horne’s face. Even though he missed the birth, he was more motivated than ever to get home. He sprinted off the plane and through the airport, where a friend was waiting to drive him the rest of the way.
But his nerves only got worse.
“When I walked into the hospital, I was so nervous that I felt like I was on a first date,” Horne said. “I’m trying to make sure my appearance was good. I made sure to check my breath. I had to look good for my wife and my baby girl.”
He has cherished every moment since.
“It’s amazing to see her smile,” Horne said. “She opens her mouth like she’s trying to talk already.”
Horne says both mom and daughter are healthy, but Simone’s heart rate dropped during labor and she was born via an emergency Cesarean delivery. For that reason, they are both currently recovering in a Topeka hospital. He is hopeful they will be discharged next week.
Though he doesn’t have any regrets about skipping the Texas Bowl, he did watch the game from his hospital room and was impressed by the way his teammates rolled to a 42-20 victory.
“It felt like I was on the field,” Horne said. “We practiced for a good month leading up to the bowl game, so I knew everything the defense was running. The hard part was staying quiet while I watched, because Simone was in the room sleeping. I didn’t want to disturb others around me. There was a lot of excitement about the game, but I had to stay calm.”
Teammates called him via FaceTime during the trophy celebration. Defensive line coaches Mike Tuiasosopo and Buddy Wyatt stopped by the following day with championship hats and T-shirts.
Horne only played one season at K-State after transferring in from Charlotte. But after making 20 tackles, playing in 12 games and being named a captain for the Wildcats, he has no problem saying “I won my first bowl game,” earlier this week even though he wasn’t there.
He has no regrets.
“I can’t think of a better way to start a year,” Horne said. “It’s something I am never going to be able to forget.”