Former Bills long snapper Jon Dorenbos was in the right place at the right time and pulled off more of his magic.
Dorenbos and wife, Annalise Dale, were near a restaurant in Huntington Beach, Calif., when a space heater ignited a fire. Dorenbos then quickly took action.
"After talking with the victim's family, we kept hearing about this witness who came to the rescue," NBC4 Los Angeles reporter Hetty Chang explained Friday night. "It turns out he's a man who already wears many notable hats, including now hero."
According to her husband, restaurant owner Ana Nako has had two surgeries and suffered second- and third-degree burns, but the situation could have been much worse were it not for Dorenbos.
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Here is what Dorenbos told NBC4: "I grabbed my wife's blanket, I got [Nakao] to the ground and was just like, 'Hey, help me out, I've got you. I've got you. You're gonna be alive. It's OK.' I remember her looking at me and I just said, 'Honey, it's OK. You're alive. We did it.'
"One of the things I'm most thankful for about playing in the NFL – I played 14 years – was just this idea of, under pressure being able to calm down and think."
Along with his football career, Dorenbos is also known as a magician, having appeared on "America's Got Talent" and numerous other programs. A heart ailment forced him to retire from the NFL early in the 2017 season.
"That's the magic of the world, right?" Dorenbos told NBC4. "We're there for each other, we support one another, we love all, we serve all, and we try to make this world a better place."
Dorenbos was one of two free agents to make the Bills roster in 2003.
"I had offers from other teams. Coming out of college, any money is more money than you’ve got," he told The News in 2019. "And I remember that the Green Bay Packers offered me exponentially more money up front. My agent told me, 'Hey, man, don't worry about the money. Buffalo is going to offer a situation to where you’ll be the only snapper in camp and it’s your job to lose. So, if you go to the Packers and you take that money up front, you’re probably going to be what’s called a camp body. They have a long snapper there that’s been there a long time, he ain't going nowhere, and you'll probably get released. So if I were you, I would take less money and go to where you're going to get a job.' It was some of the best advice that I've been given.
"I got to talk with (then-coach) Gregg Williams, (then-general manager) Tom Donahoe and the special teams coach, Danny Smith, and I just got the sense that they believed in me and they wanted to see me succeed not just as a player, but as a person. And I liked that. I have no regrets about going there … super appreciative I got to play for those guys."
Dorenbos was the Bills' long snapper in 2003 and then suffered a knee injury 13 games into the 2004 season. He was waived at the end of the 2005 preseason, then spent most of the ’05 season with the Tennessee Titans before finally getting his big break with the Philadelphia Eagles. He made two Pro Bowls with the Eagles in his 11 seasons there.
