Former NFL quarterback Connor Shaw has revealed he had no pulse after suffering sudden cardiac arrest at his eight-year-old son's flag football game, surviving after bystanders began CPR and an automated external defibrillator (AED) was used to restore his heart rhythm.

The former South Carolina Gamecocks star collapsed on the sideline at Gracely Park in Simpsonville, South Carolina, on Wednesday 17 September 2025, in front of his wife Molly, who was nine and a half months pregnant, and their children.

Shaw, who once signed for the Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears, started at quarterback for South Carolina from 2011 to 2013, finishing with a 27-5 record. He has since founded a non-profit to put automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in parks and on sports fields.

Minutes That Made the Difference in Connor Shaw's Cardiac Arrest

Shaw has said he felt unwell while coaching, walked to the sideline, handed his playbook to an assistant and collapsed. Caleb Carter, a Simpsonville Fire Department training officer who was coaching his own child's team nearby, began CPR after Shaw collapsed.

A police officer, identified by Shaw only as Zach, also helped. Carter and another first responder performed CPR while an AED was brought to the field about five minutes later and used to restore Shaw's heart rhythm.

Shaw remembers only fragments of the episode, saying he felt as if he were in 'low power mode'. He was taken by ambulance to Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital and treated in intensive care. Sudden cardiac arrest occurs when the heart suddenly stops pumping blood effectively and is distinct from a heart attack.

He now has a Medtronic extravascular implantable cardioverter defibrillator (EV-ICD) under his left armpit, with a lead running beneath the breastbone. The device monitors his heart and is designed to deliver a shock if a dangerous rhythm returns.

Despite extensive testing, doctors have not determined why Shaw's heart stopped beating. Shaw says genetic testing found no heart disease or genetic condition that could be passed on to his children.

The American Heart Association says fewer than one in 10 people who suffer cardiac arrest outside hospital survive.

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From Recovery to HRTHUDL: Turning Cardiac Arrest Into Action

Within about a month of leaving hospital, Shaw founded HRTHUDL, pronounced 'Heart Huddle', which distributes AEDs and runs hands-on CPR sessions across South Carolina. He has said its 'number one mission' is to hold as many CPR sessions as possible so parents, teachers and coaches can act quickly when a heart stops.

Carter now leads CPR instruction at the charity's events. Its second aim is to place AEDs on middle-school pitches, recreation grounds and city parks, and eventually in police cars. Shaw says the group has installed 34 units in schools, businesses and public parks.

At the end of September, the town of Honea Path said Shaw had donated two AEDs to its parks and recreation department. He made a similar donation to the Greenville County Sheriff's Office in June.

Shaw has described the work as therapeutic. His youngest child was born about six weeks after the collapse, and he has spoken of his fear that the baby would never know his father.

He has said everyone should have what he had that day: someone nearby who knows CPR, an AED within reach and the chance to go home to their family.

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