News Editor Whether it’s weddings or great personal accomplishments, there are many anniversaries in life that are worth taking the time to celebrate.

Greg Schmidt of Concordia is celebrating an anniversary this month that has an equally special meaning — the 20-year anniversary of his miraculous survival of a sudden cardiac arrest while at Barstow High School in Kansas City.

On May 15, 2006, Schmidt — the Higginsville Advance Sports Editor at the time — was at Barstow covering a district baseball game between Higginsville and St. Paul Lutheran of Concordia.

During the game, Greg experienced a sudden cardiac arrest causing him to fall to the ground.

CPR was administered followed by the life-saving shock of an automated external defibrillator.

“It was great timing, because the school had just had three AEDs donated to them a couple weeks before. They had just finished training people on how to use them. AEDs were not prevalent then,” said Schmidt, a graduate of Santa Fe High School. “They had to first locate the AED, and their Athletic Director brought it on a John Deer Gator close to where I was, behind the backstop… There were a lot of hands involved. Dr. Pulliam of Higginsville was on hand since his son was in the game.”

Greg’s heart stopped four or five times in the ambulance on the way to St. Joseph Hospital. He remained unconscious for 36 hours.

Incredibly, Greg made a full recovery and was back to work in less than three months, covering sports for the Advance as well as calling area high school games for KMMO Radio of Marshall, Mo.

However, after “burning the candle at both ends” for a few years, Greg decided to quit his job with the paper in 2008 and focus on his career in radio.

Greg has essentially kept the same breathless schedule at the station — calling between 160 and 170 games a year — since his sudden cardiac arrest.

“I haven’t slowed down. I’ve led a normal life since then and my heart has been fine,” remarked Greg, who in 1974 joined the campus Radio Station at CMSU in Warrensburg then began his broadcasting career in 1976 at KLEX Radio Station in Lexington.

Greg is fully aware of just how lucky he was.

“Outside of a hospital setting, only 6 to 7 percent of people having a heart attack survive,” said Greg.

Twenty years after his own episode, Greg and his wife, Ruth, continue to share his story and how AEDs and the appropriate training can save lives. They both have been featured in several medical magazines, radio and TV station interviews, and given numerous presentations over the years.

In February 2025, Greg was on Channel 5/CBS News with State Senator Kurtis Gregory, sharing his story and discussing the importance and availability of AED’s through state government assistance.

“AEDs are more prevalent now through grants and that sort of thing,” said Greg. “AEDs are needed wherever a fairly large number of people congregate. They are particularly important to have at schools, because you have a lot of older people who are watching their grandkids who are involved in sports, musicals or other activities. My wife and I have worked to get AEDs in as many schools in Lafayette County as possible.”

Ruth shared, “Greg is constantly reminded while covering different sporting events of the impact his health related situation had on so many bystanders and people in general who have heard or witnessed his miraculous story and recovery.”