Football player/Eagle Scout saves a life

Mark Asper, an offensive lineman for the University of Oregon football team, used the skills he learned in Scouting to save a man’s life earlier this week.

Asper, an Eagle Scout from Idaho Falls, Idaho, used the Heimlich maneuver to save a man who was choking at a restaurant. Asper, who is 6-foot-7 and weighs 325 pounds, noticed that an older man at a table near him was choking, and another man was trying unsuccessfully to help him.

“If you don’t know what you’re doing, I do, because I’m an Eagle Scout,” Asper said to the would-be rescuer before moving in to save the day. “The first heave was a test heave, because the guy seemed a little old, and I didn’t want to break his ribs or anything. So test heave, then it seemed like he could handle the full force, so I popped it out.”

The man was not injured, but Asper did accidentally break the victim’s sunglasses.