A few years ago, back in 2016, Kelly Slater likely saved the life of an infant child. “About four years ago my wife Sarah, myself, and my two boys Jed and Van were in Hawaii,” Chris White, the child’s father, explained. “Sarah went out for a walk with my youngest boy Van, in the pram. They got to this bridge and this massive freak wave just smashed into them and sent them flying across the highway.”
Kelly Slater just so happened to be walking by. And since Kelly Slater is Kelly Slater, he did what he had to do. “The world’s greatest surfer just happened to see it unfolding,” White continued. “He ran across to help Van, who was upside down in the pram, and he flipped him over and cleared the sand out of his mouth.”
White, who recently found himself facing the gauntlet on Australian Ninja Warrior, was in for a bit of a surprise: the producers brought in Kelly Slater via a giant screen to watch White compete. And while White didn’t finish the course, he was beyond pumped to have Kelly watching on. “He was already a hero of mine before the event, so to have Kelly Slater there to save my boy was unbelievable,” White said. “I’m forever thankful to him. It’s a friendship now that we’re going to have forever. I can never thank him enough for what he’s done for me.”
