PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- It might be one of the best but most bizarre sports stories this week, but late Thursday night, news broke that Clint Eastwood saved the life of Steve John, the tournament director of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the CEO of the Monterey Peninsula Foundation.
The Carmel Pine Cone, a small weekly paper that Eastwood has a stake in, released their weekly addition Thursday with John and Eastwood, the former mayor of Carmel and a part owner of Pebble Beach Golf Links, on the front page.
John began choking during a volunteer dinner and Eastwood rushed to his aide, performing a move he had only practiced before.
"I gave him three good jolts," Eastwood told the Pine Cone. "The look on Steve's face was different than when somebody is just coughing or joking around. I looked in his eyes and saw that look of panic people have when they see their life passing before their very eyes. It looked bad."
Clint Eastwood saved this week's tournament director from choking. No, really: http://t.co/CMawyMmptI
— Golf Digest (@GolfDigestMag) February 7, 2014
The two are familiar with one another, as Eastwood helped elect John to his current post in 2011.
"A piece of cheese went in my mouth and suddenly I couldn't breathe," John told the Pine Cone. "It was as bad as it could have been. But Clint came up behind me and knew exactly what to do. He did the Heimlich maneuver and he lifted me right off the ground."
The story was confirmed by a tournament PR director late Thursday night. John insists that the legendary 83-year-old actor/director saved him.
"Clint saved my life," he said. "He's strong, the cheese popped out and I was fine."
