Father shares positive untold story of 49ers rookie who helped his daughter

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KTVU) - One of the newest San Francisco 49ers players is making headlines for "doing something wonderful." 

Dre Greenlaw may be a new name for Bay Area residents, but the rookie already has some fans after a father wrote a viral Twitter post about how the NFL draftee stepped in to help his daughter when she needed it most.

"I was just looking out for a friend," said Greenlaw.

Greenlaw made his first media appearance at Levi's Stadium Thursday after flying in from Arkansas.

Shortly after the 21-year-old rookie from Fayetteville, Arkansas was drafted in the 5th round by the Niners, an Arkansas father went on Twitter to share an untold story from five years earlier when Greenlaw was a Freshman at the University of Arkansas.

Gerry Daly on Twitter said someone slipped something into his 18-year-old daughter's drink at a fraternity party in 2015, and when a man she didn't know tried to steer her out the front door, Greenlaw said, "She's not going anywhere."

"We found all this out after the fact. All I knew was my daughter was in the emergency room," Daly recalled.

What he learned was the 6-foot tall, 227 pound football player stepped in to help.

Greenlaw Thursday recalled he could tell something wasn't right and that his high school friend just wasn't acting like herself.

"When she said she needed help and I saw how the dude was kind of grabbing at her and trying to get on her a little bit, that's when...I felt like I needed to step in," said Greenlaw.

The linebacker says the girl called him the next day to thank him, but he didn't remember the incident until after she called him again after her father's post-draft tweet went viral.

Daly said he will always owe the now 49ers player.

He is asking everyone to "root for Dre," someone he calls "a kid with a good heart."

"For a guy like him to be looking out for my daughter, it meant everything to us. And obviously it's been on the back of my mind going on five years now that I've wanted to basically tell the world, 'Hey, this guy, he did something wonderful,'" said Daly.

Greenlaw was in the foster system growing up and was eventually adopted by his High School football coach.

Even his parents didn't know about this story, until last week.

"I've got little sisters that I'm very protective over," said Greenlaw. "I've just got that protective instinct. I will go out of my way to help anybody."

Greenlaw says he wants to be known for his football playing. He'll get that chance Friday when the rookies hit the field.

But the 49ers rookie also hopes the story will serve as an example for other kids.