A high school football player’s strength was put to the test over the weekend after his neighbour got pinned underneath his car.
Ohio native Zac Clark was working with his mom, Lora, in the garden when he heard a loud bang and screaming from across the street.
Moments earlier, his neighbour had been quietly working underneath his Volkswagen. The car then slipped from atop the jack, crushing the man’s chest.
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“I turned and saw him struggling,” Clark told the Mansfield News Journal. “Instincts kicked in and I just ran over there, and I just thought I had to get the car off of him.
“I did get it off of him a little bit and his wife and my mom pulled him out from under it.”
The 16-year-old, who wears the number 61 on Clear Fork Colts football team, said he always wanted to be a firefighter and “help people out.” It seemed to come naturally.
“The first thing that came to my mind was to get over there, do what I can do and do anything I can to help,” he said.
Coach Dave Carroll, who wrote the player’s name as “Zach,” shared his pride with a post on Facebook.
“We have a real life hero on our football team. Our left guard, Zach Clark, lifted a car that fell off the jack and on to his neighbor’s chest yesterday,” it reads. “His neighbor survived the incident, and the doctor said that Zach saved his life.”
Speaking to the local publication, Carroll praised Clark’s character.
“It felt really cool because, I believe, I was the first person he called after it all happened. We have a young man here on our football team that exemplifies everything you talk about as a football coach.
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“You always want players with courage and strength and does the right thing and doesn’t hesitate when you are called to duty. He did all those things. That is just awesome.”
Carroll went on to say that Clark told him that in the moment, his mind was on his own dad.
“He told me that when he was under that car lifting it, he thought about his father and that this man was going to still be able to be with his children,” he said.
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