![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/wright_michael.png&h=80&w=80&scale=crop.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Michael C. WrightMar 4, 2026, 10:25 PM<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>Joined ESPN in 2010 Multiple Authors<\/p>\n PHILADELPHIA — San Antonio Spurs<\/a> star Victor Wembanyama<\/a> expressed gratitude to the public for its help in finding a longtime friend of his who had disappeared after his father dropped him off at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.<\/p>\n According to reports, Elijah Hoard, 23, had last been seen on Friday after his father took him to the airport for a flight back to his native France after a 10-day stay in Chicago. Hoard never checked in for the flight or boarded the plane, according to reports.<\/p>\n Hoard was found safe on Tuesday night, according to Wembanyama.<\/p>\n “He just got found, like one hour ago,” Wembanyama said after the Spurs’ 131-91 win<\/a> over the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a>. “I’m so happy. We’ve been close for a long time, his family and mine. And we always think it happens to others. That was the first time I saw this case for a close person [to me]. I’m very, very relieved.”<\/p>\n On Instagram on Monday, Wembanyama had implored the public for help in the search by sharing news of Hoard’s disappearance.<\/p>\n Wembanyama on Tuesday night reposted an update from Hoard’s family on the missing man, whom authorities located on surveillance cameras in the nearby suburb of Rosemont, Illinois.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael C. WrightMar 4, 2026, 10:25 PM CloseJoined ESPN in 2010 Previously covered Bears for ESPN.com Played college…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":518675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-518674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/518675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPreviously covered Bears for ESPN.com
\nPlayed college football at West Texas A&M<\/p>\n