"My shoulders hurting, my ribs are hurting, just real sore," gate attendant Goaley Boggs told ABC11 on Friday.
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But that couldn't stop him from working on opening day.
"I like doing the gate stuff and you meet so many nice people," he said.
The 67-year-old was injured when a tree fell on his trailer while he was inside as Tropical Storm Michael battered the Triangle.
"It was such a shock and then all of a sudden I have a tree on me and I was trying to push a tree off," Boggs said.
Now a gate captain, Boggs is also a retired Knightdale fire captain. He's delivered babies and saved lives. But Thursday night, he was the one who needed rescuing.
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"It's really weird. Riding in an ambulance laying down in one when I rode in them helping other people," he said.
Boggs riding back to the fairgrounds Friday he saw something he didn't notice before behind his trailer. A lamp post in the shape of a cross.
"What do you think when you see that above your trailer?"
"You better check your faith," he said. "I got two grand boys. I got a son and a daughter. It makes you think. You can be here one minute and bam, gone the next so my thing is you better enjoy life while you're here."