Last Saturday’s night game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Michigan Wolverines was about as exciting a college football game as I’ve ever seen. I didn’t have a rooting interest in it, so I didn’t feel any emotion to it, other than the emotion of “wow, this is the coolest effing game, I’ve ever had a media pass for in my life.”
But for fans of both teams it was heart-stopping action. And for one ND fan, it was literally heart-wrenching.
Leo Staudacher, a 69-year-old Bay City, MI native and fan of the Fighting Irish suffered a heart attack during the second quarter of Saturday night’s historic game at Michigan Stadium, the school said in a statement. He survived thanks in part to one bystander who performed CPR and others who called for a medical team who used an automated electric defibrillator on site.
They were truly Michigan men, stepping up to their obligation no that night.
“My family watched while they shocked me with the paddles,” Staudacher said in the statement. “But it was the fans and their prompt CPR that saved my life.”
He was able to watch the end of the game from a hospital bed.
According to ESPN.com
The medical team then took him to the University of Michigan Health System’s Cardiovascular Center for treatment, where he was able to watch part of the final quarter from an intensive care unit bed — and saw Michigan’s thrilling 35-31 win.
“I saw the last two touchdowns from the ICU unit,” Staudacher said. “It was great to witness an amazing match-up between two old rivals — at least for the first quarter and half anyway.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site that generates millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
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