HAMPTON, Ga.  Keith Fitzhugh, America’s most celebrated train conductor, rose for work at 4:30 on Friday morning. He drove roughly 120 miles north to Dalton, punched in at Norfolk Southern and donned his bright yellow safety vest and the orange hat that signified his trainee status.

The three previous days felt like a dream. He held interviews with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, CNN and ESPN; took a congratulatory phone call from his company’s president; received an inquiry from a game show; and experienced several firsts, including wearing makeup, for the cameras.

Late Thursday night, his living room here was a testament to the power of his story and the 24-hour news cycle. Tripods had left imprints on the blue carpet. Couches and chairs were pushed against the walls.

All this stemmed from what Fitzhugh, 24, did not do: accept an offer to rejoin the Jets for an undetermined time. Because of the way he had conducted himself, choosing family over football, he became an overnight sensation, an example, in this economy, of values and virtue and, corny as it sounds, doing the right thing.