[nekked]

a pretty interesting article (from nascar.com - i gotta figure out how to link to this stuff) on the guy who saved jack roush's life:


NASCAR’s recent popularity explosion has catapulted its drivers to hero status. I can understand that -- such lofty standing often coincides with life in the public eye.

And while the frenzied swarm of humanity stirred up at the mere presence of a Winston Cup driver still baffles me at times, it solidifies their heroic rank to millions of Americans.

Anyone who holds Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth or Kurt Busch in such esteem, listen up. I want to introduce you to a gentleman the entire Roush Racing family considers quite heroic, though they’ve only just met him. Were it not for Jack Roush’s plane crash Friday evening near Troy, Ala., they’d likely have never even met this man.

Now, through an inexplicable twist of fate, they’re lives will be forever intertwined.

Larry Hicks is as unassuming an individual as I’ve ever talked to. He doesn’t consider himself a hero, though he performed an unbelievable act of rescue that only the smallest portion of society is capable of.

He’d just gotten home from work last Friday when his wife asked what he’d like to do for the remainder of the evening. Tired from eight-plus hours on the job as an Alabama Game Warden, he said he’d really just like to enjoy a relaxing evening with her. Then, the unthinkable happened.

An airplane landed in his backyard.

Suddenly, he reverted back to 22 years of Marine Corps experience, during which he was trained in air and water rescue. Hicks said he’d seen Roush’s plane clip a power line and dive into the pond some 100 yards from his home. From that moment on, instinct took over.

“There was no thinking about it, it was all just reaction,” said Hicks from his home Sunday afternoon. “I told my wife, I’ve got to get that guy out of there. I told her to call 911. He hit pretty hard, literally fell 75 feet from that power line. I knew when he hit the water he was in bad shape. I turned around and told my wife I loved her, no matter what happened.

“I was afraid the plane was gonna blow up. I could really smell the (plane’s) gas. It was all over the water. One spark, and I thought it’d blow up.”

That would stop many people. Hicks trudged on, undaunted. He manned a boat docked near his house and paddled out to aid the fallen pilot. Upon arrival, he dove some eight feet down. Nothing. He tried again. Still nothing. On the third try, he found the cockpit, opened it, unlatched a safety harness and pulled Roush to the surface.

“I had him under the chin with my right arm. I pushed off the bottom (of the pond) and grabbed on to part of the wing. It would have been the plane’s right side, but since it was upside down it was on the left. I put my ear next to his mouth and he wasn’t breathing. I knew he’d drowned.”

Not knowing exactly what to do at that point, Hicks grabbed Roush under the rib cage and thrusted upward in a motion similar to the Heimlich Maneuver - despite the fact that his feet weren’t touching bottom.

“That was really the only thing I could think to do,” Hicks said. “A lot of water came out of his mouth. When the water came out, I pulled him up to the wing where I could support him. After about the fifth breath, he caught up with me. He kind of jumped, took a deep breath.”

Though trained in such techniques, Hicks had never had to perform them.

“I was shocked he was revived,” Hicks said. “That’s the first time I’ve had to do CPR where it really meant something. I had to do it in the Marines for training, but not in eight-feet of water where you have to hold somebody up with your arms cramping really bad.”

Emergency personnel responded shortly thereafter, and whisked Roush off for more intensive treatment. Hicks sat bewildered, still unaware of what he’d just done.

“Even when we got him out of the water I didn’t know who he was,” Hicks said. “They took him away, and someone said, hey, that was Jack Roush. They told me he was with NASCAR. I said, okay, well, alright.”

Hicks coughed throughout the interview, the residual effects of ingesting too much airplane fuel. His body is covered with burns from the floating gas, but he’s not overly concerned. He’s been burned before.

In fact, his taste buds and salivary glands are so badly burnt from 40 chemotherapy treatments during a bout with nose and throat cancer he hasn’t tasted food in 14 months. Doctors told him last year he wouldn’t make it through Christmas.

Thank God they were wrong.

Hero? This man is the very essence of the word, but he doesn’t want to hear it.

“To me, his health is what’s important, not all this notoriety,” Hicks said. “To me, hero is a term that’s overused. Nowadays if somebody stumps a toe, and I’ve got a band-aid, I’m a hero.

“It wouldn’t have made any difference who it was. It just so happened it was (Roush). Had it just been a local guy from here flying around, I’d have done the same thing. I just don’t understand what the big deal is. To me, it’s all about the guy getting better. They told me after he left who he was. Somebody said that man’s got more money than God. I just said I hoped it helped him get better.”

Thanks to Hicks, he has that chance.