Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now
The greatest catch of Phillip Blanks’ life didn’t happen on one of the football fields he loved as a youth.
He wasn’t wearing athletic cleats let alone shoes because his opportunity arose so suddenly amid chaos.
But the former Saddleback College wide receiver and Orange County resident had all the instincts, focus and compassion he needed to deliver in the all-important game of life.
Blanks, 28, rushed to an apartment building ablaze in Phoenix, Ariz. on Friday, July 3 and made a diving catch of a burned 3-year-old boy dropped by his mother off a third-story balcony.
Showing the speed and sure hands of a former collegiate athlete, Blanks cradled the boys’ head and body almost like he was fielding a punt, something receivers are often asked to do.
“This is definitely my biggest catch,” Blanks said in a phone interview Friday from Arizona. “I wasn’t looking forward to any type of catch like this but it happened and I’m just glad I was able to do it.
“I give my glory to God and all my coaches out there and people who helped me train to get this ability.”
Blanks played for Coach Mark McElroy at Saddleback College in 2016 after spending four years in the Marines. The native of Kalamazoo, Mich. was stationed at Camp Horno at Camp Pendleton before pursuing his dream of playing college football.
Now living in Arizona, Blanks was off July 3 from his security guard job when he arrived at the apartment complex to meet his friend for a morning workout.
“I was in the apartment and I just heard commotion in the parking lot,” he recalled. “I look outside and was thinking it was a fight going on but saw everybody looking in one particular direction, which was kind of weird to me. A few moments later, finally someone yelled that there is a fire and that prompted me to grab my things quickly and I scrambled down stairs without my shoes.”
Blanks reached the terrifying scene with one thought in mind: help.
There were screams about a toddler in the apartment, which was on fire and billowing smoke.
As the mother dropped her son from balcony, Blanks sprinted toward the building to catch the toddler just before he hit the ground. His heroics were caught on video.
“I was just locked-in on who needs helps,” Blanks said. “I wasn’t scared of anything or thinking too much. I just reacted.”
Blanks soon noticed the boy had burns on his body and rushed him away from the building.
The boys’ mother, Rachel Long, went back into the burning apartment for her 8-year-old daughter. The girl was saved by another bystander, D’Artagnan Alexander, but Long died in the blaze.
“He’s my hero,” Blanks said of Alexander. “(And Long) is the real hero. Her maternal instincts just showed us how beautiful women are. She’s powerful. She didn’t even hesitate or think about her pain.”
Both children are recovering in the hospital and a GoFundMe account has been established for the family, Blanks said. As of early Friday afternoon, more than $106,000 has bee raised.
Blanks was a two-time all-conference player at Kalamazoo Central High. He grew up idolizing wide receivers such as Braylon Edwards, Larry Fitzgerald and Steve Smith. But now Blanks is the one being called a hero.
“His character was revealed,” McElroy said. “He prepared himself in his life for any opportunity to help someone. (He was) nothing short of heroic.”