Charles Woodson Called "A Hero" In Aftermath Of House Fire

The Green Bay Packers cornerback helped his business associate by informing him of fire at house in Michigan.

Green Bay Packers cornerback Charles Woodson is being labeled a hero for the part he played in helping his business associate escape a house fire in Bay Harbor, Mich. early this past Saturday morning.

"He's a hero if you think about it," said Rick Ruiz, director of operations for TwentyFour wine. "He actually woke me up, told me to get up."

Woodson and Ruiz are business partners in the cornerback's own wine label, TwentyFour, named after the number he wore while playing for the Oakland Raiders. The two were spending the night at the home of Gwen Haggerty who hosted an event that was both a fundraiser and a celebration of the dedication of the University of Michigan Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital to open in 2011.

Haggerty is the daughter of Ted and Jane Von Voigtlander whose foundation donated $15 million to the hospital.

Woodson personally donated $2 million in 2009 through his own foundation to his college alma mater at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hopital to be housed in the same facility as the Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital.

Furthermore, $10 of every bottle of his TwentyFour wine is donated to the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital.

While up late into the evening, Woodson and Ruiz smelled a smoky odor and actually searched the top floor of the house looking for the source but couldn't find anything. They thought perhaps the cleaning staff had burned a vacuum belt.

"I kind of just laid down, and Charles and I were just kind of hanging out there chatting about trying to figure out where that smell was coming from," said Ruiz. "It wasn't heavy at all in the beginning. It was just very light. I dozed off for a minute and Charles woke me up saying, 'We gotta go. There's a fire here.'"

The fire alarms went off and the dozen or so guests of the multi-million dollar house were all able to evacuate safely.

Woodson and Ruiz cancelled a couple of fundraising events on Saturday but are currently back in Green Bay and plan to continue their travels in support of TwentFour wine at another event to be held tomorrow evening, Wednesday July 14, at the Riverbend Club in Kohler, Wis. Their only inventory lost in the fire was that which the homeowner bought earlier in the evening.

The pair were shaken by the event and feel bad for the homeowners who are thought to have lost the entire home to fire, according to the Petoskey News-Review in Michigan.

"Charles and I have been thinking about, what if that? What if that?" said Ruiz. "We need to stop doing that and just be happy that everybody got out alive. You can actually drive yourself mental by thinking, 'What if we wouldn't have done that. What if we would have done this?'"

Ruiz credits watching a highlight video from the year Woodson won the Heisman Trophy and Michigan won a share of the national championship for keeping them alive.

"The Charles Woodson 1997 highlight tape saved our lives, because that's what kept us up so late," said Ruiz. "Seriously, we were up late watching that tape, and that's what made us stay up so late to find that smoke in the beginning. Otherwise we probably would have been passed out. I don't know."

Woodson was unavailable for comment.

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Comments (16)

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Kathy W's picture

July 13, 2010 at 10:31 pm

Thanks for the article. This could have been a horrible tragedy. Thank God everyone is alright.

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Jack's picture

July 14, 2010 at 12:03 am

I don't mean to take anything away from Woodson; he deserves credit for alerting others in the house. But the fire alarm went off, too, so let's not go overboard.

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PackerAaron's picture

July 14, 2010 at 12:22 am

Who's going overboard? Brian wrote what Ruiz said, no?

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Jack's picture

July 14, 2010 at 01:27 am

True. Ruiz went a little overboard.

"The fire alarms went off and the dozen or so guests of the multi-million dollar house were all able to evacuate safely."

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Brian Carriveau's picture

July 14, 2010 at 07:43 am

After talking to Ruiz, he was particularly worried about what could have been. He wondered if they would have been asleep that they may have inhaled the smoke in their sleep and had not awoke.

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maxginsberg's picture

July 14, 2010 at 09:36 am

Typically, I'm a fan of my alma mater, Wisconsin. But if Michigan football played a part in saving Charles Woodson's life, go Wolverines!

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Dale Zawada's picture

July 14, 2010 at 01:33 am

Woodson and Jennings are superheroes. I'm convinced now.

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alfredomartinez's picture

July 14, 2010 at 01:42 am

i love the part about "watching the heisman tape" as the reason why they stayed awake...rich eisen would agree so...nagler twitter away pls!!!!!!!!!

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FITZCORE1252's picture

July 14, 2010 at 05:15 am

Flat-out great guy.

Everyone knows about the donation to Michigan. But to give $10 for every bottle of his wine as well just shows he's genuine, he could have called it quits after 2 mill. And that they were up watching that = awesome.

C-WOOD

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PackersRS's picture

July 14, 2010 at 12:41 pm

Am I the only one who's gonna bring the pot hypothesis? But, hey, nothing agains two grown men watching film of one of them till late in the night... Just kinda don't buy it.

Any indications as to what started the fire yet?

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PackerAaron's picture

July 14, 2010 at 12:47 pm

Wait - you're saying a multi-million dollar home burned to the ground...because they were smoking pot?

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PackersRS's picture

July 14, 2010 at 02:38 pm

Don't know the materials that were put into the construction of house. In Brazil, almost no house is built with wood (with the exception of floors and furniture), but from the time I've been in SD, MIA and Hawaii, it's kinda common (but they weren't milti-million dollar houses). Let's just say that, it is possible that smoke has led to a fire...

But you're right. It isn't very plausible. Just find it odd that they spent the night watching 1997 film... And that the reason for the fire hasn't been disclosed yet...

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PackersRS's picture

July 14, 2010 at 02:52 pm

BTW, shouldn't you be on vacation? Are you really wasting your time correcting a blogger, despite of how absurd his proposal were?

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bomdad's picture

July 14, 2010 at 01:47 pm

If Charles Woodson started a fire, he would snuff it with his Heisman trophy. This is Michigan, somebody probably won some sort of championship.

In related Woodson news, Assomuggah and Revis will not have a hospital wing named after them.

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c.d. angeli's picture

July 14, 2010 at 04:20 pm

Hey, good news is good news. Let's cheer loudly for #21 this year. Hate to say it, but at his age he doesn't have a full career in front of him. Glad he can continue to give us stuff to cheer for on and off the field.

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mike mohr's picture

July 15, 2010 at 07:59 am

Thats the charles I know glad they were still up so late go packers

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