Delaware County Teen Who Saved Umpire's Life: 'I Was Just Doing What I Was Taught'
By Syma Chowdhry
SHARON HILL, Pa. (CBS) – A Delaware County teen is being credited with saving an umpire's life during a baseball game.
"I don't know if I would say 'hero;' I was just doing what I was taught," says Michael Brodzinski.
The 16-year-old Academy Park High School student plays on a community baseball team and is also a youth firefighter who is certified in CPR for the Darby Borough and Sharon Hill fire companies.
That training came in handy on Monday night at a baseball game.
"So I hit a double, and it went over the second base man's head," Michael recalls.
When Michael got on second base, he saw the umpire at the plate collapse, and he rushed to the man's side.
"I said, 'If he's not breathing, we have to start CPR.' So they were like, 'We don't know how to do CPR,'" Michael says.
Brodzinski used his training as a youth firefighter to save the man's life.
"I started chest compressions and breaths and kept doing it and doing it until they called 911," he explains.
But Michael's night wasn't over yet. After the baseball game, he went to the firehouse and responded to a call about a gas leak.
"He made everybody proud. Makes everyone around here happy to know people like him are protecting them," says Lt. Vince Lanni, with the Darby Borough Fire Department.
By the time Brodzinski arrived at school on Tuesday, word had already spread about the incident.
Principal Ed Small says he isn't surprised to hear the news.
"HE was famous! He was trending on Twitter…I shook his hand and shared with him that I was proud of him," Principal Small says.
Michael is a little overwhelmed by the attention but is focused on the fact that he saved someone's life.
"That's probably the best feeling, so that his family can see him another day. That's pretty cool," he says.
The umpire was taken to HUP and is reportedly in critical condition.
Michael says he hopes to pay him a visit when he feels better.