It's a common turn of phrase to talk about players' "heroics" during sporting events, but at the 29th Annual March Monster disc golf tournament in Indianapolis, Indiana, that word was no exaggeration.
On Saturday, March 27, disc golfers in the intermediate and recreational divisions of the competition were just about to tee off at Brookside Park. As players were listening out for the call to start, some heard the frantic calls of a woman instead.
"I was on hole 7 waiting on someone to yell, 'Tee off,' and my card mates and I heard something in the distance and it was a women yelling something," said Logan Dusthimer, a player at the tournament. "We all thought, 'That can’t be for us,' and I look up and see smoke coming from the road but thought it was just a normal cookout type smoke. Then we hear the yell again and a lady was out on the porch of the house with smoke yelling, 'Fire! Fire! Fire!'."
The situation prompted disc golfers to go over to see what was happening, and, as both Dusthimer and another player at the tournament, Daniel Thomas, reported, the woman went on to shout that two people were still in the burning home.
At this point, a sizeable group was at the scene and emergency services were on their way. However, conditions were worsening quickly.
"The smoke went from grey to black fast and you could see the back corner go up in flames," Dusthimer said.
Shortly thereafter, one of the people who had still been inside the burning home was able to get to safety, but the other man desperately needed help.
"[He] was leaning out the upstairs window with no way to escape," said Thomas. "Someone found a ladder but it wasn't long enough to reach."
Luckily, among those at the scene was Austan Jones, a disc golfer, volunteer fireman, and U.S. Army Infantryman who sprung into action with fellow players.
"Me and three others proceeded to look for a way to get him down," Jones said. "Out the window was the only option. We found a board that was long enough to reach the window, and the guy [who was] stuck was able to climb his way onto the board and make it down while we were holding it."
Though the man wasn't in the best condition when he got to the ground, he was likely far better off than he would have been had no one taken quick action.
"Once he was down, he was in so much shock that he couldn't walk," Jones said. "So we carried him to the street and out of the falling debris. First responders arrived as soon as we got him to the road."
As Jones and others acted to help the trapped man, another disc golfer named Jared Bucci went to neighboring houses to alert people to get to a safe area should the flames spread to their homes.
Soon after the rescue, firefighters arrived, cleared the area, and began extinguishing the blaze.
It's hard to say what would've happened if not for the quick actions of the players, but it's easy to be glad that they were there and ready to give aid to someone who needed it desperately.
"It was awesome to see people come together to help," Thomas said.
And if you were worried any heroes would get penalty strokes for missing their tee times, rest easy knowing that the start of the round was delayed by about 30 minutes due to the incident.
