Concentrating on rush hour traffic, Rush Yarnell just happened to glance in his rearview mirror and see the small boy collapse onto the snow-covered sidewalk.

It was January 1994, and with the wind chill dropping to 50 degrees below zero, it was one of Detroit's most frigid days.

Without thinking twice, Yarnell, a member of Bethel Lutheran Church in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, crossed four lanes of traffic, and made two U-turns before stopping in the middle of the street. Running from his car, he picked up the unconscious child, whose small black hands had turned completely white.

"I thought he was dead," Yarnell recalled.

Despite blaring horns and motorists' shouts, he carried 9-year-old Darrin Harvey to his car and sped to the closest police station. The police immediately transported the boy to the hospital.

Soon after, Darrin's mother arrived. She had been late picking him up from school, thinking Darrin would wait until she got there.

After eight days in the hospital and the threat of losing his hands to frostbite, Darrin made a full recovery. Still experiencing pain, he continues to undergo therapy to restore damaged nerves.

That wasn't the last Yarnell saw of Darrin. Following the incident, the retiree from GE and Chrysler bought Darrin a new 19-inch color television set, complete with Nintendo games--on the condition that he spend as much time studying as he did playing.

"His grades have gone from D's and E's to A's and B's," Yarnell said proudly.

Yarnell has been honored for his life-saving efforts with the Guardian Angel award, was named Michiganian of the Year by the Detroit News, and has received numerous awards from other organizations.

Does he consider his actions heroic?

"It wasn't heroic," Yarnell humbly says. "I think any normal person seeing a child in distress would do it, too. I just couldn't pass him up."

Darrin, his mother, and grandmother know better. They have seen a real action hero.