SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Some very excited United Airlines employees got to meet former San Francisco 49er and hall-of-famer Jerry Rice at San Francisco International Airport Friday morning.
"Oh my gosh. He's the best guy, and he's my number one football player ever," said Chris McElroy from United Airlines.
McElroy is part of a program called Special Olympics Service Ambassador or SOSA.
Since 2019, it's given Special Olympics athletes like him a chance to work a part-time job at United Airlines with full employee benefits -- work he's done passionately for nearly four years.
"I get to help customers and greet them and hopefully tag their bags here at the airport," McElroy said.
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United announced that it's expanding the program to all seven of its hubs, including SFO.
"I'm just so excited to expand it here," said Lori Augustine, vice president of the San Francisco hub. "We're also going to add it in Los Angeles and Newark."
McElroy is in town from the Denver hub, working alongside Rice to help recruit workers and bring awareness to the program -- much to the pleasant surprise of SFO travelers.
"I'm speechless. We're just on our way to Vegas and saw Jerry Rice," said Wen Cheuk from San Francisco.
Cheuk's excitement turned to tears when the mom of an autistic son found out why Rice was here.
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"I'm (also) a special needs massage therapist. So, this is very -- oh no, I'm not gonna cry -- this is very dear," she said.
As shocked and surprised as Special Olympics ambassadors and SFO travelers were, the most excitement generated in the United Terminal came from Jerry Rice himself, grateful to meet the talented and generous workers.
"Their personality, they're always happy. I wish I could be like that. I wish I could be happy every day and they just rub off on everyone else," he said.
United said it plans to hire four Special Olympics service ambassadors at SFO.
It hopes to have the program up and running later this year.
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