COLUMBIA, Mo. — Jack Foster heard the sound of bar stools scraping across the floor.
The commotion came from behind him. At first, he thought it might have been a fight breaking out.
“Oh my God,†his wife, Heather, said. “Jack, that guy’s choking.â€
On the other side of Bud’s Classic BBQ in downtown Columbia, Peter Burns was, in fact, choking. The SEC Network anchor and ESPN radio personality was eating with conference Commissioner Greg Sankey and the broadcast crew for Saturday’s football game when a piece of steak became lodged in his throat.
“I knew something was wrong,†Burns said.
He signaled to the other people at the table that he couldn’t breathe. Matt Stinchcomb, a former Georgia offensive lineman, tried to perform the Heimlich maneuver. So did the restaurant owner and a nurse who happened to be nearby. But Burns’ airway wouldn’t clear.
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“Two, two and a half minutes in, I started losing everything — vision and consciousness and started blacking out,†Burns said. “Somebody else, I didn’t know who it was, somebody else started trying. I felt after around two or three tries, it started loosening up. It woke me up a little bit.â€
That somebody else was Foster, a Mizzou fan and stranger whose Heimlich training saved Burns’ life last week.
Foster is a self-proclaimed Jersey boy who moved from the East Coast to Missouri in 1996. Marrying Heather meant marrying into a family of Tiger fans — the “best decision I made,†Foster told the Post-Dispatch.
The couple lives in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, and has two sons, one who plays college soccer in Iowa and one who is a first-year student at MU. They were visiting the latter for family weekend and ventured downtown for a Friday night dinner.
Here's our segment this morning on how fan Jack Foster and 3 others helped saved my life this weekend.
— Peter Burns (@PeterBurnsESPN)
Thankful for him and all of those who do CPR and safety training.
The Foster family had a reservation elsewhere, but a sudden craving for brisket changed plans.
“As luck and chance would have it, we made the decision last minute to call an audible and go to Bud’s,†Foster said.
It was, if nothing else, a life-saving coincidence. Foster was the fourth person to attempt the Heimlich on Burns — the cleanup hitter, as Burns joked.
Foster credits his wife as the reason he was able to perform the Heimlich successfully. As a preschool teacher, she always knew how, so he found it important to learn. He’s a licensed youth soccer coach, which requires safety courses to be taken every few years. When recertification came around a year ago, he paid attention to the class.
Once Burns was safe, he went over to Foster’s table to hug him and thank him.
“He really downplayed it,†Burns said. “He was like, ‘Hey, it’s Missouri, it’s family. We would’ve done anything for anybody.’â€
The Mizzou football training staff checked out Burns later Friday night to make sure ribs cracked in the process hadn’t punctured a lung. Coach Eli Drinkwitz learned what happened, too.
“Appreciate Jack stepping up and being a hero when he was needed to be a hero,†Drinkwitz said at his Tuesday news conference.
Foster is quick to deflect the use of that word.
“I’m not a hero,†he said. “I was just one of the guys that did their job.â€
But to Burns, Foster most certainly is one. The anchor told the story of Foster’s lifesaving efforts on the air, tearing up as he recounted what happened at Bud’s. Burns spent his Tuesday morning at the doctor before visiting his kids’ school to have lunch with them — the sort of thing he felt compelled to do with a changed outlook on life.
“I just got a chance to have lunch with my kids because of some stranger’s incredible preparedness and wanting to help out,†Burns said. “It changed my life forever.â€
The way Foster sees the world, though, is not about wanting to help out one time. It’s about seeking opportunities to do that on a regular basis.
“I try to set a standard for my behavior and show that it’s OK to get involved versus just watch,†Foster said. “I always say that if I wasn’t there, who would do that for my family, for my boys?â€
The rest of the weekend was normal for Foster and his family. They ventured to Memorial Stadium to watch the Tigers beat Boston College. On Monday, Foster’s wife showed him the video of Burns’ story.
He was reminded of the impact that taking a required safety course seriously could have but was also struck by the emotion of ensuring, through a motion he’d learned in a class, that another man was able to avoid a catastrophe and be with his family.
“That’s really what I want this story to tell,†Foster said. “I made a new friend. We’re going to be linked. I’m actually so much more proud of the other people there and the people of Missouri because we’re good people. Man, it was awesome to see three, four people all rally around him. You hear him say he gets to home to his kids and his family and that just warms your heart.â€