Before Jamal Roberts celebrated his victory on the “American Idol” stage Sunday night, he was lost in Summit about to get rescued by former Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy Damian Gatlin.

Gatlin and his family watched season 23 of “American Idol” from Roberts’ golden ticket-winning audition of Rick James’ “Mary Jane” to his finale performances of “Just My Imagination” by the Temptations, “First Time” by Teaks and Tom Odell’s “Heal.”

The Crestwood Elementary PE teacher from Meridian was always a Gatlin family favorite.

“Some of the songs he did, we cried,” Gatlin said. “Some of them were really powerful. There was nobody else we could vote for but Jamal.”

Gatlin met Roberts during his performance at the Iron Horse Festival in McComb that the McComb Main Street Association puts on each year. He had been to McComb months earlier to perform at the “Boss Up and Get It Done” event organized by Shaunta McDowell. 

It was almost time for Roberts to take the stage, but he was somewhere lost in Summit. McDowell called on Gatlin, chief deputy for the Pike County Sheriff’s office, to round him up.

Gatlin recalled the story. 

“Damian, our guy is lost. He doesn’t know how to get to the event. He’s in Summit,” he said McDowell told him.

He replied like a superhero. “Have no fear, Damian’s here,” he recalled, laughing. “Naw, it didn’t quite go down like that. I went and found him and went and escorted him back. He had five minutes to get on stage. We got him in two.”

After the show, Gatlin said Roberts was laughing, keeping a respectful distance from the chief deputy’s wife. 

“I said, ‘Man, hug that woman. Go ahead, you can hug her. I’m not going to get mad, not this time,” he said.