SEC Network's Peter Burns Was Seconds Away From Death, But One Missouri Fan Stepped In And Saved His Life

It was a regular night before a top-25 game between Missouri and Boston College. The SEC Network crew that included Peter Burns, Ayssa Lang, Taylor Zarzour and commissioner Greg Sankey gathered for dinner at Bud's BBQ in Columbia for their pregame meal. 

But, for host Peter Burns, his night would quickly turn into a near-death experience, as the seconds ticked down on what was looking like an evening that almost turned tragic. 

While the crew was enjoying a steak dinner, Peter Burns found himself in a bad situation. As he was eating, a chunk of the steak he had just swallowed became stuck in his chest, causing him to quickly panic. Looking over at his close friend, and ESPN analyst, Matt Stinchcomb, Peter signaled to him that he was choking, giving him the hand gesture, which led to Stinchcomb jumping into action. 

But there was a massive problem that was about to unfold, leading to the near-death moment for my buddy Peter. Unfortunately, Stinchcomb could not get the piece of steak to come up, trying the Heimlich maneuver multiple times to no avail. 

Unfortunate Reality Was Setting In For SEC Network's Peter Burns

This is where a dark reality began to set in for Burns, who was choking. Talking to Burns on Monday night, he mentioned that after Stinchcomb could not get the steak to come up, so a lady in the restaurant signaled to someone else, who just happened to be a nurse, and was a very big man, according to Peter. Once again though, the Heimlich maneuver was not working and more than 90 seconds had passed since the incident had started. 

Desperate for someone to save his life, as his friends and commissioner Sankey panicked, there must’ve been an angel looking over Peter Burns. After he started to face the reality that he might die in that moment, as he started to pass out, gasping for air, one Missouri fan named Jack Foster sprung into action for one last attempt to save the life of Peter. 

"As this is literally ending, starting to blackout, almost pass out, some guy comes up and gives it like the last try," Burns recalled. "I want to thank Jack Foster for saving my life over on Friday. This man, having dinner with his son, his wife there at Buds. He's a youth coach and said he has just gone through some certification and training for if this thing ever happened. It did. 

"Jack, thank you for everything you did. It's just a moment where you don't take things for granted. The lesson is to take every moment that you have and positive, and love. You don’t know when something like that is going to happen." 

On a night where everything seemed normal, as the crew was enjoying a night together, Peter Burns is lucky to still be here after that dramatic incident that was close to taking his life. 

For Jack Foster, the Missouri fan who sprung into action, thank you for doing whatever you could in the situation. I'm certainly grateful that my friend Peter Burns is still around, and that his beautiful family got to see him again. 

Being the pro that he is, Peter Burns was on the sideline for the SEC Network pregame show from Missouri this past Saturday, just doing his job.