Local Basketball Player Performs CPR On Referee Mid-Game, It Saved His Life

A local basketball player has been hailed a hero for performing CPR on a referee during the middle of a game after the official collapsed.

The young man's actions saved the referee's life.

The scary incident occurred during the playoff basketball game between Toledo Glass City and the Jamestown Jackals.

In footage posted online, you can see referee John Sculli run down the sideline while keeping up with an attacking play.

He then suddenly jerks forward, wobbling side to side, before eventually tumbling over and hitting the court with some force.

Having clearly collapsed, the official was in desperate need of some medical attention, which was when Toledo Glass City player Myles Copeland sprung into action and rushed in to help.

In the clip, Copeland can be seen assessing Sculli before making the decision to perform CPR on him until paramedics arrived.

It's understood he was doing CPR for 10 minutes.

Incredibly, thanks to Copeland's quick-thinking initiative, the referee was resuscitated and ultimately survived.

It turns out the 25-year-old had actually just finished a 24-hour shift as a firefighter too.

A true hero.

"It was kind of instinctual," Copeland told ESPN.

"It surprised me how quick I was able to switch into that mode, especially being in a basketball game."

"But, with being a firefighter, when you're off the job, you're really not off the job. You still got to keep an eye out for the community and what's going on around you."

He added: "Ever since then, people just, like, look at me. They just have a different feeling about me, like you're a hero. It's been said to me so much, but still it's hard to have that click in my mind because I feel like I was just doing another deed, another thing that I was supposed to do.

"I didn't feel like I went out of my way to do anything special. It's just what I was put here to do. God was able to work through me. I feel like other people see me differently as a hero, but I don't see myself any different."

Once paramedics arrived, the game resumed and Copeland's Toledo secured a victory which helped them advance to the conference semifinals of The Basketball League.

"A guy like this deserves to be celebrated," league president David Magley told ESPN

"Not just because he saved his life but the humility with which he carried himself afterwards.

"He's the kind of person that's our hero because he stepped up when he needed to and he won't take any of the credit himself. It was just divine timing."