Young quarterback and his father saved a man who suffered from seizures

As the keeper of Texas’ 21-game winning streak and the successor to Vince Young, Colt McCoy inherited a daunting task when he took over as Longhorns quarterback this season.

Patina and Ken Herrington at the lake behind their house where Ken had a seizure Memorial Day.
With No. 2 Texas playing top-ranked Ohio State in college football’s first No. 1 versus No. 2 regular-season showdown since 1996, McCoy will find the eyes of Texas and the country focused squarely on him.

But when McCoy, a redshirt freshman, steps onto the field of the sold-out Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, he will not have to be reminded that he is capable of thriving under pressure.
On Memorial Day, McCoy and his father, Brad, helped save the life of Ken Herrington, who had a seizure on the dock of his lakefront home. McCoy and his father heard the cries for help from Herrington’s wife and swam 300 yards to help rescue him.

“It’s a true hero story,” Patina Herrington, Ken’s wife, said in a telephone interview.

The episode took place just after nightfall at the Herringtons’ home in Graham, Tex., an oil town of 8,700 in the western part of the state.

Alerted by a neighborhood dog, Patina Herrington found her husband thrashing about wildly on the wooden planks of the couple’s dock, inching dangerously close to slipping into Timber Ridge Lake’s murky water.

Ken Herrington, 60, had experienced numerous seizures after having three brain surgeries in 1995, but never in a setting like this. He also has aphasia, a speech disorder that limits his ability to communicate and comprehend.

“I couldn’t leave him,” said Patina Herrington, 50. “It was a life-or-death moment.”

Kneeling next to her husband, she screamed frantically into the darkness for assistance, yelling: “Help. Help. Help. This is Patina Herrington. Ken is having seizures.”

Across the small lake, the McCoys, who had just finished a daylong fishing contest, heard her call for help and plunged into the water. Using a flashlight to guide their way, they swam 300 yards to the dock. By then a neighbor had called 911.

Colt McCoy, who lost his shoes during the swim, put on his father’s wet sneakers and sprinted more than 500 yards up a hill to a nearby road to meet the paramedics. He and his father then helped carry Herrington to an ambulance.

After at least 12 seizures that night and a brief stay in a hospital in the Fort Worth area, Herrington is recovering and is appreciative of his rescuers.

Herrington, a 1967 Texas graduate, has even elevated McCoy over Young on his list of favorite Longhorn quarterbacks.

“He’s just a fantastic person,” Herrington said in a telephone interview. “It’s incredible, this person. He did everything.”

Young did everything a quarterback could do in leading the Longhorns to the national title last season. He was named most valuable player in the Rose Bowl and scored the winning touchdown with 19 seconds remaining.

McCoy made his first start last Saturday after beating out the freshman Jevan Snead in summer camp. He threw for 178 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 56-7 rout of North Texas.

Although the stakes will be higher and the opponent more stout Saturday, McCoy appears capable of doing his part.

“They did not have to scale back their offense because Vince Young was not here,” North Texas Coach Darrell Dickey said. “McCoy looks like he can do the things that Texas needs him to do in their offense.”

In Austin on Friday, the trappings of the big game were popping up all over town. A few fans were already tailgating more than 32 hours before the kickoff, and tickets were fetching more than $500.
The cyclist Lance Armstrong and the actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Matthew McConaughey even watched Texas practice Thursday.

Displaying rare patience for a young quarterback and a lively arm capable of generating big plays, McCoy, 20, seems to be soaking up the atmosphere.

“The secret is to just be confident,” he said. “Go out there and have fun. Having fun is the secret.”
But McCoy refused to play up his heroics off the field.

“I wouldn’t consider myself a hero,” he said. “I saw someone need help, and I did what I hope anyone else would do.”

But McCoy is a hero to the Herringtons, who will attend Saturday’s game and wrestle with their emotions.

“It’s hard not to cry,” Patina said. “What happened that night was so scary. Colt means so much. He’ll always be special to us.”