Fortune and heroics came together to save the life of head football coach Robert Frith on Dec. 19 after he collapsed on a pickleball court in San Clemente.

Frith kicked off Christmas vacation with a trip to Richard Steed Memorial Park, a local spot for skating and recreational sports in San Clemente. While spending the morning playing pickleball, the day took a tragic turn.

In seconds, Frith’s heart began to flutter and he passed out sustaining head trauma in addition to problems with his pulse.

“The whole thing with cardiac arrest is you don’t have a minute to even hold your chest, take a knee, or wave to anybody. You’re just out,” said Frith.

In a miraculous turn of events, an unlikely group of bystanders recognized the issue immediately and sprung into action.

John Rowlands of the Orange County Fire Authority was on site along with an off duty nurse and retired fire fighter. Rowlands initiated chest compressions for several minutes before paramedics could arrive on scene.

“An off-duty firefighter who happened to be nearby jumped a fence and immediately began CPR. He administered CPR for ten to fifteen minutes…Without that immediate response, Rob would not be here today…It is difficult to put into words just how closely this came to ending differently,” said SJHHS principal Cina Abedzedeh.

Frith experienced another stroke of luck when an Orange County Sheriff showed up. His patrol car happened to have an AED machine, a medical device not typically carried by police units.

Although Frith’s heart never stopped entirely, he required several shocks to reestablish a more normal cardiac rhythm.

Firefighters John Baranger III, Ryan Johnson, Trevor Lima, and Emily Lassiter from nearby Station 59 arrived to help at 9:49, only 7 minutes after the 911 call, according to the incident report from OCFA obtained by The Express.

Due to the bravery and swift action of all parties involved, Frith underwent a full recovery at home with his family. He was later diagnosed with ARVD/C (Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia/Cardiomyopathy), a genetic heart condition that is rarely caught before fatality.

“There’s three ways that people find out that they have it. One is maybe they see that it runs in the family. So they know what to test. If you don’t know you have it, the two other ways that people find out are heart failure and sudden cardiac death. And I thought to myself, ‘well, gosh…that’s it?’,” said Frith.

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is the act of maintaining oxygen flow to the brain. Contrary to popularized teachings, the human body does not require continuous airflow through the mouth; instead, quality of life can be maintained by administering compressions above the heart, stimulating oxygen-carrying blood flow. 

“Imagine a school where we have so many people who are confident and who are trained the right way with chest compressions. It’s not hard…the sternum, it’s flexible. You might have to break a couple of ribs—that happened to me—to do it right, but you’re saving their life. It [would be] pretty powerful if we had all those layers of protection because everybody just knows what to do,” said Frith. 

Any individual could engage in the same life-saving action as Rowlands—CPR courses are open to all ages, offering official certification that can aid in careers like babysitting or simply provide protection against sudden disaster.

“The CPR course, it’s so easy. You watch some videos with your instructors and then you do hands-on testing. You do chest compressions then breaths, and then you learn all the equipment. It really helps if you’re able to be first on scene and help out in a dire situation,” said lifeguard Siena D’Elia (12).

Several resources including informational videos and articles about CPR can be found through the American Heart Association.