Former Football Player Makes Life-Saving Catch In Phoenix Fire

PHOENIX — Phillip Blanks was out early Friday morning for a workout with a friend when the football player in him took over.

The 28-year-old Phoenix resident had played high school football more than a decade ago. His big play was in 2009, as a freshman at Kalamazoo Central in Michigan, when he caught a 30-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the game to lead his team to a win over archrival Loy Norrix.

But that was nothing compared to what happened around 9 a.m. Friday.

Blanks, a U.S. Marine, heard the frantic calls coming from the apartment building next door to his friend’s residence at 19th and Dunlap avenues. Two children, a 3-year-old boy and his 8-year-old sister, were trapped in a burning third-floor apartment. Throw them down, and we'll catch them, people outside the apartment shouted.

The former wide receiver made a gridiron-worthy dive, catching the toddler who was “twirling like a helicopter” after he was dropped, news station WWMT in Michigan reported.

“I saw another guy was standing there ready to catch the boy, but he didn’t look like he was going to do it, so I stepped in front of him,” Blanks said. “The way I caught him damaged his foot, but the most important thing is his head was safe.”

Both children were critically injured. Rachel Long, their 30-year-old mother, died in the fire, the Arizona Republic reported. Another woman in the apartment at the time was taken to the hospital with a leg injury, Phoenix Fire Department Capt. Kenny Overton told the newspaper.

Police said there was no sign of foul play.

Eight apartment units were damaged in the fire. The American Red Cross worked to provide residents with temporary shelter.

No firefighters were injured.

Bystanders rescued several other people from the fire, according to media reports.

Blanks told WWMT he made it his mission to “track those two children and their father down, and to help them as much as I can."