“Me and Jim said he was less than 30 seconds away from not being able to hang in there,” Fassel said, via ESPN.com. “But it all happened so fast. Major kudos to Burton, the Manhattan Beach lifeguards and fire department paramedics. It was seriously amazing how fast they got on the scene. When we got him in, and he had the help he needed, we were high-fiving and celebrating.”
Fassel never learned the name of the man, who was taken to the hospital after being brought back into the beach.