A Florida man had a heart attack while playing golf alone. That's when heroes stepped in

It was a regular golfing day for four Florida State University students as they played on the 13th hole of Tallahassee’s Hilaman Golf Course. That is, until they saw a man uphill flagging them down from about 100 yards away. 

“I immediately knew something was up,” FSU senior Brandon Moore, one of the quartet, told the Tallahassee Democrat in a phone interview Tuesday. “It was a guy standing there all by himself with a dog, waving at us.” 

When they approached him, they saw another man to their surprise – 61-year-old Todd Watkins – on the ground, unconscious. The Tallahassee native, who was golfing by himself on March 1 to prepare for a golf tournament in Orlando the next day, collapsed after suffering a heart attack.

“It was a pretty scary scene,” said Moore, 23, a sociology major. “You’ve got an older gentleman, and all of us think about our parents in these circumstances, so it was a surreal moment watching someone who’s around my dad’s age go through this. It was definitely a whirlwind of emotions.” 

Seeing that Watkins had no pulse, the four young men acted swiftly by calling 911 and administering CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) for 10 minutes while waiting for paramedics to arrive – a quick reaction that played a vital role in saving Watkins’s life. 

FSU senior and New Rochelle, New York, native Tommy Provenzano became CPR certified about six years ago while working as a lifeguard in high school, but the emergency marked his first time administering CPR on someone. 

"I never really expected to have to use it, but I was really grateful that I learned it,” 21-year-old Provenzano, a sport management major, told the Democrat. 

Watkins’s heart was shocked back into rhythm by paramedics, and he was intubated before being transported to Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare. He was hospitalized for a week – mostly in TMH’s intensive care unit (ICU) to help his brain heal – before being discharged Saturday. 

“We were all just waiting to hear what had happened to him, and we were relieved when we found out that he was in the hospital,” Provenzano said. “It was really nice to know that his wife and kids could see him again.” 

‘I wouldn’t be here without them’

Although Watkins has no memory of what happened during the emergency since he was unconscious, his family filled him in. 

He says he was golfing on the 14^th tee box of the local golf course located on South Blair Stone Road, but he can’t recall anything from that point on until a couple days later when he woke up in the hospital. 

"Everything I know is what’s being told to me. I wouldn’t be here without them,” said Watkins, who works in finance and accounting for the Florida Department of Education. He is married to Mary Watkins, a literacy coach for Leon County Schools, and they have two daughters. 

Along with Provenzano and Moore were two other FSU students Ty Schmidt and Charlie Frantz. A few other golfers also gathered around and helped during the emergency on the golf course. 

Mary, an FSU alumna, says Todd is an active man who has been golfing for years, and he never had any serious health issues. She was in “absolute total shock" about the situation, and they were later told the heart attack was due to genetics. 

TMH doctors explained to Mary that had it not been for the CPR procedure being performed correctly, the outcome would have been “very, very different.” 

“Those four young men are my heroes,” Mary, 54, told the Democrat. “They were Todd’s angels, and we truly believe it wasn’t just a coincidence that God places the right people there at the right time.” 

Todd’s sister-in-law Megan Burkett – who drove down to Tallahassee from Montgomery, Ala., because of the emergency – says the four students are going to become “a big, honorary part of our family.” 

“It was very emotional,” said Burkett, 52. “But when we met them, they were the sweetest guys.” 

The four FSU students got in touch with the family and visited Todd March 2 while he was in ICU. Although Todd was sedated at the time, the young men – who are all currently out of town for spring break – hope to meet him again when they return. 

“He just sounds like an overall great guy – someone we’d want to hang out with and go golfing with soon,” Moore said. “Hanging out with his family, we could tell he's a big golfer. He does everything we like to do, including fishing, so we definitely want to get to know him a lot more.” 

Following the young men’s heroic efforts, Leon County Emergency Medical Services reached out to Moore's mother, Carol Moore, saying that they’d like to present the students with a citizen's award when they return to Tallahassee from spring break. 

“They’re just good, solid boys,” Mary said. “We can’t thank them enough. We’re just overwhelmed with the utmost gratitude for everything they did.”