It was a typical summer day in Michigan. Our grand daughters were visiting and they headed out with me for a day of shopping. Jack had some errands to run but the wind was blowing quite strong, so he brought along his board shorts and put his surf board on top of the car....just in case!



Just 14 miles down the road from us is another beautiful beach in New Buffalo. Not many of the beaches around here have life-guards but New Buffalo does. Since the Third Coast Surf Shop is located in this town Jack and the other surf instructors do most of their lessons at this location.



Jack pulled in and climbed up the sand dune to get a better look at the waves. They were not quite big enough for his taste but they were great for giving lessons. Jack climbed back down to leave when a girl came running up to the toll booth in the parking lot. (Yes! you have to pay to use the beach...unless it is before or after hours.) Anyway, as the girl reached the parking attendant she yelled, "Call 911." She said there were 3 people drowning and someone was asking for a surfboard. Here's the rest of the story in Jack's words:



"I reversed and parked. Grabbing my board, I ran down to the beach without changing. I could already hear the sirens of the rescue vehicles on their way. As I got down to the water I saw Jason Lukas from the surf shop towing someone in from along side the rocks. I saw there was a girl on an inner tube still outside and close to the rocks.

I walked out to waist high water and began to paddle. I passed another guy on a board who was struggling against the current. I yelled to him,"Go back, I got her!" When I got to her I told her to hang onto my ankle and I'd paddle her in.

I started paddling and realized I wasn't making much headway. I was paddling against the current. I just kept on paddling and telling her that we would be in shallow water soon and assuring her that we would make it. I got her into shallow water and she walked in.

I caught up with Jason on the beach and he told me what had happened. While giving surf lessons he noticed 4 people on floating devices caught in the rip and they couldn't get in. They were dangerously close to the rocks. He tried to tow all of them in together but after struggling against the current for 20 minutes he decided to bring them in one at a time. It turned out that the four people were a grandmother and her grand kids. The grandmother did not speak English so Jason had to have one of her grandchildren translate for him!

As he was towing in the third person he saw me paddling out and he told me he had prayed for help. I guess I was the answer to his prayer."

The rescue crew took over from there and Jack and Jason left. Little did they know that they would be interviewed and featured in two newspapers and be seen on the 5:30, 6:00 and 11:00 news!

Both Jack and Jason agree that they are not heroes but they were just in the right place at the right time.

Jack embodies the spirit of sharing and being heroic.

Thank You Frank for posting this story up here.