Brandon Bair

Brandon Bair is a retired National Football League defensive end. He signed with the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2011. From 2012 to 2013 he played for the Oakland Raiders as a practice squad player until the last game when he was moved to the active roster. He was with the Philadelphia Eagles from 2013 to his retirement at the end of the 2015 season.

Bair was born on November 24, 1984, in Rexburg, Idaho. He grew up on a farm and has ranched cattle for most of his life. He played college football for the University of Oregon where he earned his bachelor’s degree in economics with a minor in Spanish. He and his wife, Jordan, life in St. Anthony, Idaho, with their four daughters. He often hosts football camps for youth and is a motivational speaker.

Bair is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served a full-time mission to Jacksonville, Florida.

He made national headlines in May 2021 when he saved a man after his semi-truck was hit by a train. Bair was on his way to work the evening of May 7, when he witnessed the train hit the driver’s side of a semi-truck and the driver, 25-year-old Steven Jenson, was pinned inside. Bair called 911 and drove down the median to get to the accident. Running across Highway 20, Bair saw conductors getting out of the train. They warned him not to go near the truck which was burning in the flames.

Bair heard a voice from inside the cab and acted quickly. He saw that the only way to get Jenson out was through a small rear window between the passenger and driver’s seat.

“It was a conscious decision that I’m going in because he needs help right now,” Bair says. “I ran up to the window and saw dripping hot flames all over inside of the truck. I could see a guy in a seatbelt and was able to reach in and get it off of him. He was talking, and I told him we had to get out of here now.”

Even though the seatbelt was off, Jenson was still pinned inside the cab. Bair climbed halfway in as the two worked together to break the steering wheel and other equipment. The 6’6″, 260-pound football player then pulled Jenson out the “teeny window.”

“We walked away, and within seconds, the fire on the roof fell down inside, and the whole seat and cab went up in flames. A few minutes later, there were a couple big booms and explosives,” Bair recalls.[1]

Bair stayed with Jenson until emergency responders arrived. Bair then spoke with the police, got into his truck, and called his wife as he drove home, instead of going to his business. “You never know what’s going to happen in life, and this shows you should hug your family every chance you get.”[2]

Jenson was airlifted to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, and on Friday, May 7, a hospital spokesperson said he was in fair condition.

Bair said two teenagers, Ryker Simmons and Ian Simmons, and Lyndon Rinehart Jr. also stopped and ran to help when the crash happened. He insists that anyone in his shoes would have done the exact same thing. Bair was not burned and sustained only a few scratches.

“The Lord needed me to help him, and I happened to be there,”[3] Bair said.

“All I can say is this guy was supposed to live. I’m a man of faith, and I’ve learned to listen to your gut and the promptings you get,” he told East Idaho News. “The Lord wanted him alive. Things could have gone different, a million different directions, but things worked out on his behalf. That’s my conclusion. Whether it was me or someone else, he was supposed to live.”[4]