06/15/2026
Miamisburg teacher Tom Madigan may never have saved a life if the Bengals hadn’t lost.
Madigan, a Kettering native, Army veteran, and math teacher at Miamisburg Schools , was one of the lucky few who flew with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels this week, ahead of their headlining appearance at the Dayton Air Show.
The once-in-a-lifetime flight would probably never have happened if he hadn’t left watching a Bengals game early one fateful day in 2024.
“It kept going into overtime, and I was so upset that I decided to leave before the game was over and go to my gym,” he said. “I never go to the gym at that time because I usually watch the game all the way.”
That one decision changed the course of several lives, including his own. When Madigan entered the Kettering Rec Center, he noticed a young man lying on the floor. At first, he assumed he was exercising, but upon closer inspection, Madigan realized the man was unresponsive.
“I went, ‘Hey buddy, are you okay?’ And he was not okay. And I immediately dropped my stuff, grabbed my phone, called 911,” he said. “911 kept wanting to talk to me, and I got like ‘hurry up, get here, hurry up,’…I found out later that they do that, they talk to you to keep you calm.”
Madigan was nominated for the Dayton Air Show “Hometown Heroes” program - which selects an extraordinary member of the community to fly in a military jet - by a former student of his named Owen, who Madigan says is a huge fan of all things military.
Madigan’s late daughter, Krystal, loved the Blue Angels. A resident of Pensacola, Florida - the Angels’ home base - Krystal was a devoted fan of the elite pilots until her death from breast cancer.
Madigan took his flight on Wednesday, June 10, with two breast cancer advocate bands around his wrist in his daughter’s honor.
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