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A Texas truck driver -- called a "mountain of a man" by the family whose lives he saved -- was named on Thursday night as the 22nd Goodyear North American Highway Hero.

Rick Dent -- a 6-foot, 300-pound, Diana, Texas, driver for Groendyke Transport Inc. -- was credited with coming to the aid of Bob Strickland and his small children, Megan and Paul, when Strickland's car swerved to miss a deer and landed in a water-filled ditch.
  

The accident occurred July 14, 2004, in a 6-foot-deep ditch teeming with snakes, along U.S. Highway 84 near Jena, La.
  

Strickland said, "The car was filling up with water, and a man in a big red truck pulls up, jumps out, runs to the water's edge, looks at me and says 'Are you OK?'
  

"No, I can't get out and the car is sinking," Strickland said to Dent. Snakes were swimming in the 40-foot-wide ditch, and his 3-year-old daughter, Megan, was screaming. Strickland said Dent swam to the car.
  

"This huge man pulled the door open about 3 inches, but it was stuck. Suddenly, my daughter screamed again, and he grabs the door and pulls it off the car like it is made of cardboard," Strickland said.
  

Dent took Megan and Paul to land, and returned for Strickland, whose foot was lodged under the dash. Dent dove and freed Strickland's foot; then he carried him to safety.
  

"This man saved our lives. The car sank before he got me to the bank. I have a new respect for truck drivers," Strickland said.
  

Dent accepted the award, a $10,000 U.S. Savings Bond and a gigantic specially designed size 17 Goodyear Highway Hero ring for his nearly 3-1/2 inch diameter finger, during the Mid America Trucking Show.
  

"Bob Strickland described Rick Dent as a huge man, in a big red truck. He saw Rick Dent as larger than life. . .someone with a big heart. Other motorists may have continued on their way, but Rick Dent stopped to help someone in need. Because of that decision, three lives were saved, and Rick has earned the right to be called a hero," said Donn Kramer, director of marketing for Goodyear commercial tire systems.
  

Founded by Goodyear in 1983, the Highway Hero program recognizes professional truck drivers and the often unnoticed, life-saving rescues and roadside assistance they provide as their jobs take them across North America.

For more on Goodyear's Highway Hero program and to nominate a truck driver for the 2005 award, go to: http://www.goodyear.com/truck/whatsnew/heroes.html

Source: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company