It was after midnight and Brandon Gruttemeyer ’27 was sound asleep when a co-worker barged into his bedroom, hysterical and pleading for help. In a stupor, Brandon grabbed a flashlight and wearing only his underwear, stumbled into the darkness and toward the water. What he saw next, he’ll never forget. And what he did next, saved a man’s life.
Lake George is known as the Queen of American Lakes, and from the moment Brandon’s parents set their eyes on her shimmering waters, they were hooked. Brandon grew up in Cornwall, NY, but nearly every spring and fall weekend – and almost every summer day in between – the family escaped to their paradise.
“We have a boat that we keep on the lake. Every day, we’d tied up somewhere in a bay, and we’d just float there. That was my childhood.”
Brandon chose Siena, partly because of a recommendation, and partly because of his drive-by familiarity with the College. Their 2 ½ hour drive to the lake cuts through Albany and near campus. Brandon figured Siena was the perfect distance between his two favorite places and when he got to campus, he immediately found a kindred spirit.
“I met my best friend my first day. We were in the same orientation group. He’s got a house on Lake George, so we clicked instantly. He works summers at the Lake George Club and asked if I was interested. Of course I was! He made a call, and that’s how I became a sailing instructor.”
The club offers tennis and sailing lessons for its youngest members, and they provide instructors, who come from all over the world, with lodging. Never mind that Brandon didn’t know how to sail (that little detail was sorted out quickly), he had scored a dream summer job that would keep him on the lake all summer.
“It was great. I’d take the kids out in sail boats and teach them how to do it. We’d sail and then swim for a bit. Once I got the hang of it, it was literally smooth sailing.”
He had a room at the club but often didn’t use it. Brandon had made friends all over the lake, and he’d frequently crash elsewhere. But on this one night, for no reason in particular (as text messages document), plans didn’t materialize and Brandon spent a rare night in his own bed. He was asleep at 12:30 a.m. when the screaming started.
“She just kept saying, ‘We need to go!’ It felt like I was in a dream.”
A member of the staff named OG, who had been working the night shift, went down to the water to cool off after a long, hot day. Then, he disappeared. It was feared he didn’t know how to swim. When Brandon got to the lake, he scanned the water with his flashlight and stopped when he spotted a lifeless body 10-feet down, on the bottom of the lake.
“I did a pencil dive down to the bottom, and I tried to pull him to the surface. I’m 6’0", 140 pounds. He’s 6’5", 250, and he was full of water. It was a struggle, but I got him to the surface and onto the dock.”
Brandon got help from Eric, a bartender at the club, and together, they began performing CPR. OG had turned blue and had no pulse. But after about two minutes of chest compressions, he began coughing up water. He was unconscious, but barely alive when paramedics rushed him away.
A doctor later told Brandon that from Montreal to New York City, there wasn’t a patient in any hospital whose condition could be described as any more critical than this. OG was in a coma and the prognosis was grim (it’s believed he had spent six minutes at the bottom of the lake). OG defied the odds when he woke from his coma after a week, and he stunned doctors a month later when he was taken off the heart-lung machine. Still, a full recovery would be miraculous. But that's exactly what happened.
“He’s perfectly fine. It’s unbelievable. The next time I saw him, we hugged, and he just kept saying, ‘Thank you, thank you. I wouldn’t be here without you.’”
Brandon, above, with the man he saved.
On February 5 at the New York State Capitol, State Senator Bill Weber will present Brandon with the Liberty Medal, the highest honor awarded to an individual by the State Senate. The medal will be in recognition of Brandon’s heroic, life-saving act. Brandon says he’s humbled by the honor, but it’s hardly necessary.
“Maybe it hasn’t fully hit me. I do recognize he wouldn’t be alive if I didn’t go in the water, but I really don’t think anything of it. It was just a good deed – someone looking out for someone who needed help.”
Brandon will also be honored with the Siena Excellence Award at halftime of the men's basketball game on February 23. Looking ahead to the summer, will Brandon return to the Lake George Club?
"One hundred percent yes."
Lake George will always be his paradise.