CASCADE TOWNSHIP, MI -- Willie Williams was just looking for time to relax with a friend Tuesday night when he walked into the Cascade Roadhouse for a beer.

His friend works for Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park in Alto and the two had just finished a reptile presentation in the Grand Rapids area—something they often do together.

They were sitting together at the restaurant’s bar when an employee came in, just after 8 p.m., frantically asking for help.

A diner in another room was choking.

Speaking an hour after the scary encounter, Williams recalled jumping up to assist. He knew he had to do something and pulled the choking elderly man up onto his feet.

“I just started doing what I felt was the Heimlich Maneuver,” Williams said.

A minute or two later, the man was breathing again, he said.

Medical workers arrived at the restaurant on Cascade Road SE and took over.

Williams, 30, of Wyoming admitted he has very little medical training, but felt obligated to help. It's what he hopes someone else would do for him. He was quick to credit a restaurant employee who called 911.

“I figured I was doing what I needed to do,” he said.

If anything, it may have been on-the-job skills that he looked to in the moments when he needed to take action, Williams said.

He refers to himself as an “on-call alligator wrestler” of sorts.

He assists a friend with reptile and alligator shows around the area for the animal park.

“I guess it comes in handy,” Williams said of the skills. “Everything worked out. I’m happy I was here.”