In today’s episode of This Hits Different, Shelby Cassesse tells the story of Bill Quinn, a referee who had his life saved by plenty of helpers during a local youth football game.
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For the last 15 years, you'd find Bill Quinn at the football field most fall Fridays and Saturdays. That was no different on September 24th, when the longtime referee was working his fifth game of the day. Mars and Hampton's youth teams, including his grandkids, were playing at Hampton High School.
He admits though, something had been feeling off.
“I was having chest pains prior, so I just thought I had to get back in shape,” he says.
The stress test scheduled for the following week was a few days too late. While officiating an extra quarter of the Mars/Hampton game that almost wasn't played, Bill collapsed.
“I don't know what happened,” he says. “I just went down.”
His daughter Amanda Gillott was in the stands when she saw her dad on the ground.
“Oh, he tripped or something,” she recalls. “But then like that quick, I realized it was not good.”
It was a heart attack.
Bill and his family didn't know it at the time, but he was surrounded by heroes in waiting who saved his life.
Hampton assistant coach Cory Yost, a former military CPR instructor, started chest compressions about 5 seconds after Bill hit the ground.
“I flipped him over and put my head on his chest, and I had no heartbeat.,” Yost says.
Head coach Matt Mays, a police officer and CPR instructor, wasn't far behind.
“No pulse, certainly no breathing,” he says. “So we both, I think, just kind of kicked into the mode that, hey, get this done.”
Working the concessions, Hampton cheer parent and retired paramedic Garrett Miller heard the commotion.
“A bunch of people came running up, saying ‘we need an AED,’” he says. “And I said, ‘Where?’ And they said on the field with one of the refs.”
And a physician ran from the stands, Mars parent Dr. Bryan Noorda who helped attach the AED.
“We shocked him and then continued CPR again for another minute or so at which point he woke up,” Noorda says.
Bill came to only hoping no one had seen him fall. Of course, he opened his eyes to a crowd of people, including his wife Donna. Though Donna says, Bill's first concern was some unfinished football.
“And he's just, like, giving me the whistle,” she says. “He's like, just finish up. You know how to do this. He goes, you know everything, just finish up. And I'm like, it's over. It's over.”
Bill was rushed to the hospital where he had triple bypass surgery, and is now on his way to a full recovery. Garrett says the instant response from bystanders made the difference.
“This is what happens when I think when people do the right thing and try to help you have positive outcomes,” he says. “That should probably happen a lot more often in life.”
That moment also brought four new people, Matt, Corey, Garrett and Bryan, into the Quinn family. A feeling they say is mutual.
“Bill's become a part of the HDFA family,” Matt says. “He's become a friend to myself.”
“It's very special,” Bryan says. “It was an honor to be helpful and to help them.”
And, according to Corey, two towns where rivalry runs deep, now share a new bond.
“I might have yelled at you during the game, I don’t know” Corey says. “But at that split second, you put that difference aside, and it's a human life. It doesn't matter if you disagree with anything. There's a human there. And we did what we had to do to make sure he had another day on this earth.”
Now, Bill is looking forward to his next time on the field, with the same love of a good joke and a greater appreciation for life, and those who gave him a second chance at it.
“These people, I'll never forget them and I’ll always remember what happened there again,” Bill says. “I could be dead without them. I just sit there and think, wow, I get a second chance, man. Unreal.”