GREECE — A former University of Dayton athlete is safe after flying out of Israel amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
>>PHOTOS: Former UD athlete safe escapes Israel amid conflict
Vee Sanford was at an Israeli airport on Monday waiting to catch a flight to Greece. He arrived safely.
“Just landed in Greece,” he wrote on social media Monday night at 9:44 p.m.
News Center 7 reported Monday that Sanford was only in Israel for a month, playing in the European Cup League.
His immediate family lives in Europe, and he’s been getting calls from people here in the United States since Saturday.
“They’ve been calling me every day just checking in on me,” he told News Center 7′s Malik Patterson. “Making sure I am mentally fine. They’ve been worried from what they are seeing on the news but when they call me, I tell them everything is okay they’re at ease.”
>>‘Have some sincerity;’ Former UD athlete flying out of Israel amid conflict
One of Sanford’s biggest concerns is not for himself, instead making sure people are compassionate about the conflict going on.
“It’s kind of upsetting to see on social media people are torn between the two. But just realized people’s lives are being taken on both sides and to just have some sincerity for what’s actually going on,” Sanford said.
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Currently, Sanford and other American teammates are still scheduled to play in Greece.
But his Israeli-born teammates and coaches are uncertain.
“Hopefully everything is okay for them to arrive. We’ll train and then play in the international league and then after that maybe go back home to France,” Sanford said.
Sanford’s manager and one of the coaches on the staff served in the military years ago.
He said they are now being called back into the reserves.
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Sanford played men’s basketball at the University of Dayton from 2012-14 and was a member of the 2014 Elite Eight team.