Twin Sons Save Dad With CPR Learned In 'The Sandlot'

MOUNTAIN BROOK, AL — Twin 10-year-old boys and their friend saved their father from drowning in their backyard pool in Alabama by using CPR techniques they learned in the 1990s hit sports movie 'The Sandlot.'

Brad Hassig, of Mountain Brook, Alabama, was doing his usual breathing exercises when he blacked out, he told NBC's 'Today Show' on Wednesday morning.

His son, Christian, noticed something was wrong when he saw Hassig "laying on his side and his face was starting to turn blue," he said.

Hassig's other son, Bridon, and their neighbor, Sam Ebert, 11, jumped in the water, and the three dragged Hassig, who weighs 185 pounds, from the pool and laid him next to the steps, Bridon said.

"Luckily we are strong swimmers," Bridon said.

The boys realized Hassig's phone was locked, and without phones of their own and their mother not at home, Christian checked a neighbor's house. When it was clear they were not home, he flagged down a car and got the driver to call 911.

None of the boys are trained in CPR, but Bridon leaned on techniques he remembered from a pool scene in 'The Sandlot,' one of his favorite movies. In the scene, one of the young characters tricks the female lifeguard into giving him CPR before kissing her during mouth-to-mouth.

"I've had some moments with him," Bridon said when describing what he was thinking. "Happy, sad and some mad moments. But I’m like, I don’t want this to be the last moment."

The boys' quick actions worked as Hassig gained consciousness as emergency personnel arrived.

"I heard, 'Daddy, Daddy, come back. Daddy, you have to be OK.' It was crazy," Hassig said.

Hassig was taken to the hospital and has since recovered, and the boys have since been given phones in case another emergency arises. He believes the boys had divine help in saving him.

"There's no way physically they should have been able to pull a 185-pound man out of the water like that," Hassig said. "To know and do what all of them did perfectly, as quickly, no lack of action, to run as fast as they did, it's God's hand was all over it."