Fifty-seven years after J.D. Thompson raced up a utility pole to administer CPR to a fellow Jacksonville City Electric lineman who had accidentally contacted a power line, Thompson was commended by the Jacksonville City Council on Nov. 12.
Thompson, whose July 1967 rescue of coworker Randall Champion was captured in a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo by Rocco Morabito, was presented with a proclamation by Council member Mike Gay, who told Thompson he was “what God meant for us to be ... our brother’s keeper.”
In addition, Gay displayed a street sign for J.D. Thompson St., the new name for a street on private property at the entrance to JEA’s Northside Generating Station.
Thompson’s rescue prompted the creation of new training measures that remain in place today.
Thompson, 26 at the time of the rescue, and Champion were working on utility poles along West 26th Street when Champion was jolted with more than 2,400 volts of electricity, stopping his heart and burning a hole in his foot.
Thompson ran to the pole, climbed it and administered CPR to Champion, who hung by his safety belt.
The photo was captured as Thompson was giving Champion mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The photo, published in the Jacksonville Journal newspaper, was titled “The Kiss of Life.”
Champion, after being revived by Thompson, was able to return to work as a lineman and was later promoted to troubleshooter.
Jacksonville City Electric was renamed Jacksonville Electric Authority in the 1960s and simply JEA in 1998.