Hayleigh Colombo

hcolombo@jconline.com

Stephen Giorgio's instincts kicked in immediately Monday morning when, as he approached Boat House Row near the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia on his morning run, he saw a man hanging on to an overturned boat.

The 2004 Purdue University graduate, now an architect in the Philadelphia area, took off his running shoes and jacket and jumped in. He didn't realize that he'd meet a fellow Boilermaker in distress.

"I saw a guy that was holding on to the boat," Giorgio told the Journal & Courier. "Really, he was holding on to his buddy. He was blue in the face."

Video courtesy of WPVI-TV

"As I processed everything, the guy saw me and said, 'Can I get some help?' I went to the edge and jumped in."

The man, identified by local media as John Hewson of Center City, Pennsylvania, was holding on to his rowing partner, who had suffered a seizure, causing the boat to overturn, Hewson told WPVI-TV in Philadelphia.

"I asked him what he needed, and he said his foot was still strapped in," Giorgio recounted to the Journal & Courier Wednesday. "I unlatched his foot, and pulled his foot free."

That allowed Hewson and his friend, Jeremy, to shift to a safer area and relieve Hewson from the strain of supporting a 6-foot-4, 220-pound man, along with a boat.

"The river current's not crazy," Giorgio said, "but it's pretty stressful if you're trying to pull that much weight."

From there, a Drexel University crew coach, paramedics and EMS team took over and got Jeremy to safety.

Giorgio captured the attention of local media when he took off without much fuss.

"I shook John's hand and took off," Giorgio said. Hewson later found him on social media.

Giorgio may have left the scene quietly, but not before realizing that both he and Hewson were Purdue graduates.

"It's a small world," Giorgio said. "It gets smaller and smaller the older you get. I think it's kind of cool. I don't have that many Purdue connections out here. Most of mine are scattered across the U.S., so I found it kind of intriguing that we just happened to cross paths the way we did."

But he firmly rejects that he was a hero.

"I have no doubts I would do it again," Giorgio said. "I served a small part. The other gentleman was holding (Jeremy) up before I found him. He did a lot of work. I was the assist man."