Story Behind The Heart-Stopping “Kiss Of Life” Photo

Death often comes in a fleeting moment in life, and successfully preventing it in an instant is a miracle. American photographer Rocco Morabito, who spent the majority of his career at the Jacksonville Journal, was fortunate to witness and capture that fateful moment. The photo, named “The Kiss of Life,” depicts one electrical lineman saving the life of another.

How was the photo captured?

In July 1967 in Jacksonville, FL, after going to look at some trains and the workers being on strike, photographer Rocco Morabito was driving along West 26th Street. On his way, he noticed a couple of linemen from the Jacksonville Electric Authority performing routine maintenance on a utility pole. After finishing his assignment, he decided to stop and take some photos of the workers.

“I passed these men working and went on to my assignment”, says Morabito. “I took eight pictures at the strike. I thought I’d go back and see if I could find another picture”.

As he approached, he heard screams and realized something was terribly wrong. He saw a man dangling from the pole. Quickly, he called an ambulance and grabbed his camera.

Morabito recalled, “I heard screaming. I looked up and I saw this man hanging down. Oh my God. I didn’t know what to do. I took a picture right quickly. J.D. Thompson was running toward the pole. I went to my car and called an ambulance. I got back to the pole and J.D. was breathing into Champion. I backed off, way off until I hit a house and I couldn’t go any farther. I took another picture. Then I heard Thompson shouting down: He’s breathing!”.

What exactly happened?

It was just another day for the linemen of the Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA), carrying out their routine maintenance tasks. Randall G. Champion, working at the top of the utility pole, accidentally touched one of the low voltage lines.

The shock knocked him unconscious instantly as electricity surged through his body. Luckily, his safety harness kept him from falling, but he was still in grave danger, hanging lifelessly.

His partner, J.D. Thompson saw what happened and rushed to his aid from another pole about 400 feet away. However, upon reaching Champion, Thompson faced a daunting challenge.

With his colleague dangling upside down, CPR seemed impossible. Moreover, there was simply no time to release Champion from his harness and lower him to the ground for the life-saving procedure.

“[Champion] got a hold of the hot wire with his four fingers,” Thompson later recalled, “and [the electrical current] came out his – I think it was the left foot. And it blew a hole where it came out his foot.”

Champion “didn’t look good at all,” Thompson said. His face had turned “gray-ish blue.” To save his friend, he decided to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the air.

Despite the challenging circumstances, he couldn’t administer CPR but persisted in breathing into Champion’s lungs until he detected a faint pulse. He then carefully unbuckled Champion’s harness and descended with him cradled on his shoulder.

On the ground, Thompson and another worker performed CPR until paramedics arrived, and Champion showed signs of improvement. Eventually, he fully recovered.

What’s even more remarkable is that Champion not only survived this ordeal, thanks to Thompson, but he also lived an additional 35 years. Sadly, he died of heart failure at the age of 64 while Thompson was still alive as of 2017.

The legacy Of Rocco Morabito’s iconic photo

Rocco Morabito knew he had a special photograph. Back at the newsroom, Jacksonville Journal editor Dick Brussard agreed to extend the print deadline, ensuring Morabito’s picture could be included. The Journal’s copy editor, Bob Pate, came up with a brilliant caption: “The Kiss of Life.”

When the Associated Press distributed the photo, it quickly made its way into newspapers across the nation. Ten months later, there was immense excitement among the entire Jacksonville Journal staff as Rocco Morabito’s “The Kiss of Life” photo was awarded a Pulitzer Prize.

“It was an incredible act of heroism, a life-or-death moment, all captured by Rocco in a split second,” said Jacksonville Historical Society Executive Director Emily Lisska. “It was an extraordinary moment for our city.”