Special teams coordinators in the NFL want their players to be able to perform under pressure. Winning field goals, onside kicks (looking at you, Green Bay!) and more.
Rams special teams coordinator John Fassel saves drowning man
Fassel made sure the last day of his vacation in California made a difference.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
John Fassel, the special teams coordinator for the St. Louis Rams, definitely knows how to lead by example.
Fassel not only performed well under pressure on the last day of his vacation in California last week, but, according to a report by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, he saved a man’s life while he was doing it.
Fassel said he was boogie-boarding in the high tide of the Pacific Ocean alongside Manhattan Beach late in the afternoon on Wednesday, when he and another surfer, Jim Burton, noticed a man caught in the riptide, flailing away.
Fassel and Burton -- who did not know each other before this incident -- swam over to the man, whose eyes were “rolling into the back of his head,” according to Fassel. The drowning man -- who did not speak English -- was gasping, splashing, panicking, according to Fassel.
Fassel and Burton hauled the man onto a surfboard and then took him to shore, where he was treated by paramedics and taken to a local hospital. He was in stable condition, according to Schefter’s report. Neither of the man’s saviors got his name at the time and still don’t know it.
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