John's Journal: The Lifesaving Heroism Of A High School Athlete

There’s something you should know about Grant Fitterer: He’s a finisher.

The junior at Tri-City United wasn’t overly excited about his finishing time at last week’s Gerry Smith Cross-Country Invitational, hosted by TCU at Montgomery National Golf Club. But he closed strong over 5,000 meters in a time of 18 minutes, 5.1 seconds to place 30^th among 100 runners in the varsity race.

He came hard down the final 100 meters, strongly leaning into a final right turn and charging to the end of the course. He was sweaty, he was breathing heavily, and he had finished.

He also knows how to finish when someone’s life is in danger. Grant, who has been in Scouting since kindergarten, saved a co-worker’s life in August by dragging the unconscious person out of a burning car, an act of heroism that has made him pretty famous in his school and in the small towns that comprise Tri-City United (Montgomery, Lonsdale and Le Center).

“A lot of people are just really proud of him,” said Grant’s mother, Cheryl Fitterer. “It's a small town so everybody kind of knows everybody.”

Grant works part-time as a cook at Rail 19 Bar & Grill in Lonsdale (“My biggest expense is running shoes,” he said with a smile). On the day of the event, a co-worker wasn’t feeling well and went to the parking lot to sit in his car for a bit. Grant told him, ‘Yeah, that's fine. Take your time.’ ”

After a few minutes Grant smelled something burning. Since he works in a kitchen, he immediately checked the flat top and the fryers, finding nothing wrong. He went outside, not expecting to find anything there, either. That’s when he saw the co-worker’s car -- which was running, with the windows rolled up and the air-conditioning going -- filled with smoke.

“The driver's door was unlocked, thankfully,” he said. “The first thing I did was reach over and shut off the car.”

The driver was unresponsive; he was undergoing a medical emergency and his right foot was pushing the accelerator all the way to the floor.

Grant’s dad, TCU principal Alan Fitterer, said, “The young man had his foot on the accelerator and the RPMs had redlined.”

Grant opened all the doors to let the smoke out of the car. Not having his phone with him, he ran back inside and told the manager to call 911. Grant, the manager and another employee rushed outside and Grant saw flames coming from the left rear tire well.

As they pulled the driver out, the right side of Grant’s face and hair was slightly burned by the heat.

“I had less than first-degree burns,” he said. “I could feel it was warm, but there was nothing left after an hour or two, which I'm super thankful for.”

A police officer arrived and gave the victim oxygen.

Cheryl was at work when Grant called. This seemed strange, she said. “I knew that it had to be something because he never calls me from work.” The last time he had done so was because a knife had slipped and he needed a few stitches.

Grant told her, “Mom, I'm OK. I'm just a little burned.”

She didn’t panic, knowing that he worked in a kitchen and there were risks, such as burns.  But her heart began pounding when his son said, “There's a police officer here who needs to talk to you.”

The officer got on the line and said, “I want to let you know that your son saved someone's life today. His coworker was in his car. The car was on fire, and your son pulled him out.”

“He said the car was fully engulfed by the time the police officer got there, so it would have been too late,” Cheryl said.

She immediately texted Alan, who was at Walgreens pharmacy in New Prague, writing, “Hey, when you get a chance can you call me? I’ve got to share something.”

“I called her,” Alan said, “and she started talking and she had a rush of emotions. Cheryl was kind of choking up.”

News spread quickly. The TCU cross-country team left the next day for a preseason camp trip, and when Grant showed up he looked a little different.

“He had his head shaved,” said cross-country coach Brian Fogal. “And we asked him what happened. He told us about it and we knew this was a big deal. But he plays it off. He's so low-key.”

The motto of the Scouting movement, of course, is “Be Prepared.” Grant is close to becoming an Eagle Scout, the highest rank in Scouting; the paperwork has already begun in having him awarded the Scout’s Lifesaving Meritorious Action Award.

Here’s the odd thing: Grant wasn’t supposed to work that day. A co-worker had asked him to swap shifts, which he agreed to.

Maybe it was meant to be.

--MSHSL senior content creator John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at [email protected] or [email protected]