Former football player, Marine catches toddler dropped from burning building: 'I just did my best'

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/former-football-player-marine-catches-121645372.html

Phillip Blanks caught countless passes in his career as a wide receiver. None could have been as great as his diving grab last week.

As a fire raged through a Phoenix apartment building on July 3, Blanks said his instincts kicked in as a mother dropped her toddler from the balcony to save his life.

"Ultimately, this is my job," Blanks, a former Marine who now works as a body guard, told MLive.com. "It was all fast, it was a blur. It was tunnel vision as I was running. I didn’t see anything but the baby."

Heart-wrenching video of the save shows Blanks, 28, rush in and dive to grab the child just before he nearly hit the gravel below the balcony. The 3-year-old and an 8-year-old girl survived the flames but were hospitalized with injuries. The children's mother died in the fire.

[lunatica]

1. A real hero doesn't need time to assess the pros and cons.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

4. It's so damn sad that the mother didn't make it. nt

[lunatica]

5. Yes. That's heartbreaking.

I hope she saw her child being caught and saved. She did the only thing she could.

[revmclaren]

2. A true hero.

[RANDYWILDMAN]

3. He is amazing !!

What true hero's do...

[matt819]

6. That video was amazing.

And it’s why we use the word hero too loosely. Both those guys were heroes in every sense of the word. I also understand that the woman’s daughter was also rescued. I hope there’s family that can step in for the kids.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. And, With Amazing Humility, He Says...

...the mother is the real hero.
He just caught a toddler from burning building, without time to stop, and he doesn't think he's the hero.
Wow!