A college wrestler from Utah is being hailed as a hero after saving the life of his college teammates when they were set upon by a grizzly bear while out hunting in Cody, Wyoming at the weekend.
According to reports, Brady Lowry, Kendell Cummings, Orin Jackson, and August Harrison, who all attend Northwest College, were antler hunting on Saturday.
Brady told how the day was getting late and the group had decided to head back to their vehicle. However, Brady and Kendell split off from the group to spend a few minutes looking for sheds.
That turned out to be an near-fatal error.
Brady explained: “I saw bear crap all over, and I looked at Kenny and said, ‘There is a grizzly bear here.
“And right after I said that, the bear came out of the willows. It was thick. It came at me and charged me and tackled me off this cliff into this gulley and was going at me for a little bit.”
During the initial attack, the bear got hold of Brady’s arm and broke it.
“It shook me around and I didn’t know what to do,” he recalled. “I curled up in a ball and it got me a few more times.”
Needless to say, Brady’s life was in serious danger. Fortunately, though, he had a friend close by who was both loyal and extremely brave.
Refusing to leave Brady, Kendell began yelling at the bear to try and draw it away. When the bear continued its attack, Kendell kicked the bear and grabbed it by its fur, prompting the animal to then go after him.
“It tackled me, chewed me up a bit, and then when it was done, it wandered off, and I started calling out for Brady to make sure he was alright,” Cummings, who was hospitalized in Billings, Montana, said.
Brady managed to get to his feet, run up the hill to his other two friends, and then call 911.
Kendell, however, suffered a second attack by the bear.
“The bear circled back around, and it got me again, chewed on me, and that’s when it got my head and cheek,” Kendell explained. “And then it went away again for whatever reason.”
Eventually, Kendell was also able to stagger back towards his teammates, bleeding from the serious lacerations he had sustained to his head and body.
“We heard Kenny yell, and he came out of the trees where the bear was at and was covered in blood. He walked down to us,” Brady said. “Gus (August Harrison) ran up to him, and we were probably five miles from the trailhead where we parked and about a mile to the bottom of the hill.”
As per reports, Kendell was flown by helicopter to St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings, Montana. Brady, meanwhile, was first taken to Cody Regional in Wyoming, before being flown to St. Vincent himself.
Speaking side-by-side from their respective hospital beds, the boys said all four college wrestlers were carrying bear spray, but that the attack happened so fast that they had no chance to use it.
“I’m just glad we have each other still; glad all four of us walk off that mountain,” Brady said. “I don’t think anyone else lesser than a wrestling team with a bond like we have – they wouldn’t have handled it as well as we did.”
He went on to claim that he and Kendell both surviving the attack must have been the work of a higher power.
“When I was under that bear, I covered my head and curled up in a ball, and if it wanted to kill me, it could have killed me. There was someone looking out for me and Kendell,” Brady said.
Brady’s dad praised Kendell as a hero for his actions during the attack.
“That young man over there – Kendell is a hero,” he said. “Any normal person would have turned and ran, but these bonds that they build in college athletics lasts forever.”
What an amazing story of friendship in the face of terrible danger. I don’t know about you, but it warms my heart to know that such bonds endure even today.
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