Radio host aids victims with boat rescues
John Lopez pulled into a middle-aged couple’s front yard on a 16-foot fishing boat Tuesday afternoon. Although they had never met, the Houston-area couple was thrilled to see him. He tossed them two life vests and helped them onto the boat. He never said his name, nor did they say theirs. There was no need for introductions. The couple was safe, and Lopez was again on his way to find more survivors in the wake of the overwhelming devastation left by Hurricane Harvey.
Moments later, though, when Lopez let out what those of us who know him recognize as his hearty and distinctive laugh, the couple quickly glanced at each other, then did a double take, giving Lopez a good, long look. Although they never said it, Lopez knew. He knew that they now realized the man who had borrowed a boat to come to their rescue was not simply an unknown good Samaritan, but the popular sports radio personality they listen to daily on Houston’s KILT SportsRadio 610.
Not that that mattered to Lopez, then or ever.
“These were regular people,” he told USA TODAY Sports in a phone interview Wednesday. “They never thought the water would get that high, so you get them out and they just hug your neck and you never see them again, but you feel good you did it.”
John and I go back to the late 1980s, when he wrote for the
Houston Chronicle and we sometimes shared a row in the media tribune at venues across seven Olympic Games. In 1991, we even shared a wild cab ride through the dark streets of Havana during the Pan American Games, with John translating for the two of us. We haven’t seen each other in several years, but when I looked at his Twitter feed Tuesday, I knew I had to get in touch.
“(My boat) in dry dock 100 (miles) away. But I have truck, life vests, etc. (Message) me if you have a boat. I’ll pick up.”
Over the next half-hour, Lopez, an avid fisherman whose home was not flooded, sent out a few similar tweets. He received a dozen responses and ended up with two small fishing boats, using one for the first part of the afternoon, then switching to the second for the rest of the day.
“Have acquired a Jon boat about to start rescue efforts in Walden on Lake Houston. DM me address if you need out.”
Forty minutes later, Lopez sent out another tweet, this one accompanied by a video of his view of the flooded streets he was traversing. His message was simple: “@ me if you need help”
Over the next 10 hours, Lopez rescued 18 to 20 people.
“Some of them got on the boa with only a trash bag full o clothes,” he said. “They’ve jus lost everything, yet they’re say ing, ‘God is good.’ Their appreci ation was amazing. By the time I was done, I realized I might have helped them, but they helped me more. They made me fee better.”
Throughout the day, Lopez was never alone in his efforts “The best part about it was al the people who were out there on boats, probably 30-40 differ ent boats, firefighters, the Coast Guard, just people out there try ing to help.”
I asked him if he had seen the recently released movie Dun
kirk, the World War II story o the rescue of thousands of Brit ish soldiers by hundreds of Brit ish citizens in pleasure boats.
“Oh my gosh, it really was like that,” Lopez said. “I was by the Costco and I turned around and I saw like six boats coming a me. I don’t mean to sound overly dramatic, but it was like a mili tary landing.”
And he, of course, was an inte gral part of it.
“I was just really trying to help. I just wanted to do wha needed to be done. The fisher man’s code says when you see a boat in distress, you stop every thing and help that boat. Now Houston is in distress, so you stop everything and help.
“I knew I had the expertise. I just needed a boat.”