Irwin Industrial Tools revealed this week that Dr. Bryan Fox of Chesapeake, Va.,ย was selected as the winner of the โTell Us Your Irwin Vise-Grip Storyโย promotion. It turns out that Dr. Fox, an orthopedic surgeon for the United States Navy,ย was honored for using an Irwin Vise-Grip to perform a rather unusual procedure: spinal surgeryย during Operation Iraqi Freedom. No joke, this guy actually saved someoneโs life with a pair of vise grips.
A member of the U.S. Navy for more than 25 years, Dr. Fox found a, shall we say,ย โuniqueโ use for his vise-grip as a spine surgeon on the battlefield inย the Middle East. According to the report, in the heat of battle, Dr. Foxย needed to perform emergency spinal surgery on a soldier who had aย combination of screws and rods that had been implanted into hisย infected spine. Complicating the medical challenges at hand, Dr. Foxย did not have access to the specialized tools necessary to deal with theย soldierโs different spine implants. Dr. Fox did, however, have accessย to a pair of vise-grip locking pliers. He sterilized the tool and used it to remove the rods and screws from the soldierโsย infected spine, effectively saving his life.
As the winner of the โTell Us Your Vise-Grip Storyโ promotion, Dr.ย Fox was awarded an Irwin Vise-Grip custom-branded chopper valued at $25,000 built by East Coast Custom Cycles.
โAs a lifelong fan of IRWIN VISE-GRIP tools, Iโm thrilled to beย selected as the winner of the โTell Us Your VISE-GRIP Storyโ contest,โย said Dr. Fox. โIRWIN VISE-GRIP tools allowed me to save lives on theย battlefield, and I firmly believe that VISE-GRIP tools are the mostย reliable and durable tools available. If you canโt fix it withย VISE-GRIP tools, duct tape and a bigger hammer โ it canโt be fixed.โ
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For years, Irwin had received hundreds of unsolicited stories fromย professional tradesmen, contractors and do-it-yourselfers about theย unique ways theyโve used a vise-grip product outside of its traditionalย use to solve various problems either in a pinch or as a permanentย solution. From July-October 2008, consumers were askedย to share the different and exceptional ways they have used vise-gripย locking pliers or wrenches to solve various problems in the workplaceย or at home.
Irwin received more than 850 stories describing how consumers usedย the tools in different situations ranging from spine surgery toย car repair during the โTell Us Your Vise-Grip Storyโ promotion. Fiftyย submissions were selected as finalists and consumers voted to selectย the best three entries. The winner was selected from the top threeย finalists by a panel of judges made up of industry experts inย education, training, retail, motorsports and manufacturing.
The other finalists for the โTell Us Your Vise-Grip Storyโ promotion were Paul Schraps of San Rafael, Calif., and Paul Smith of Valley Center, Calif.,ย who won second and third place, respectively. Schraps shared how heย held his truckโs exhaust system together while driving his mother toย receive cancer treatments in Mexico. Those same vise-grip locking pliers are apparently still holding Schrapsโ exhaust systemย together 28 years later. Smith lost a brake line during the grueling Baja 500, and he used hisย locking pliers to maintain power on his remaining brakes to finish the difficult race.
Schraps was awarded a $1,000 Cabelaโs gift card for his second place entry and Smith received a $500 Cabelaโs gift card for his third place entry. All three finalists received an all expenses paid trip to Las Vegas where the grand prize was awarded.
For more information, visit http://www.irwin.com/irwin/consumer/visegripstory/story1.jhtml.
