Julie Shaw works on the Real Time News Desk for the Inquirer and the Daily News. During her 10-plus years at both papers, she has covered the courts, crime, immigration, and census stories. 
 
 A 12-year-old Norristown boy who died last year after running back into his house to try to save his father from a raging fire is one of 20 recipients of a national award honoring acts of bravery, the Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Hero Fund Commission announced Wednesday. 
 
 Sanford Harling III, nicknamed "Man Man," died after attempting to rescue his father, Sanford Harling Jr., from their burning home on the morning of Feb. 5, 2016. 
 
 He didn't realize that his 58-year-old father, who was recovering from hip-replacement surgery, was able to escape from a second-floor window of their three-story brick house. 
 
 The Carnegie Medal is awarded throughout the United States and Canada to those who display "acts of outstanding civilian heroism" in risking their lives to save others, the fund said in a news release. Sanford was the youngest recipient and the only one from Pennsylvania. 
 
 Two others awarded the medal this month -- a 35-year-old man from Tennessee and a 56-year-old Massachusetts man -- had also died during their heroic acts. 
 
 Harling Jr., now 59, called his son "my hero" and "my angel" in a phone interview Wednesday. About 9 a.m. that tragic day, the father noticed fire and smoke on the first floor of the family's house on the 1000 block of Markley Street. 
 
 "I yelled for everybody to get up and get out of the house," he said. His wife, Dana Henderson; his son, "Man Man"; his 14-year-old daughter; and his 23-year-old stepson had gotten out, but the father was trapped on the second floor by the growing flames. 
 
 Harling Jr. searched for a window to jump from and realized that if he dived out of his son's bedroom, he could land on grass. 
 
 About that same time, Harling Jr. later learned, his son broke free from a family friend who was holding him outside the house. "I’m going to go back in to get my dad because he’s walking with a walker," his son told the friend. 
 
 Sanford never made it out. Firefighters later found him on the first floor. 
 
 The seventh grader at Lakeside School in North Wales, who was part of the Norristown Youth Eagles Football Program, had died of smoke inhalation and thermal burns. 
 
 His father suffered some broken ribs and fractures in his back, femur, and the same hip on which he had had surgery. 
 
 "I’m still trying to recover," he said. He had to use a wheelchair for a few months and is now on crutches. 
 
 The family has since moved to a new home in Norristown. 
 
 The Norristown Fire Department nominated Sanford for the award. "As we said from the beginning, he was a hero," Fire Chief Tom O'Donnell said. 
 
 Eric Zahren, executive director of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, a private foundation, said each award comes with a one-time initial grant of $5,000. 
 
 Since the fund's inception in 1904 by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, 9,934 people have received awards, announced quarterly, and the fund has given $38.9 million in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance. ||||| NORRISTOWN, PA -- Norristown's "boy hero," Sanford Harling III, has been recognized by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission for his heroic actions on that fateful day last February. 
 
 Harling, also known as "Man Man," rushed back inside his burning Markley Street home on Feb. 5, 2016 to rescue his father, Sanford Harling Jr., who required the use of a walker. 
 
 But his father, finding the first floor exit blocked off by flames, had made his way to the second floor, where he leaped from a window and landed in the grass, sustaining serious injuries but surviving. 
 
 Man Man, however, never made it out. 
 
 When firefighters re-entered the home, they found that he had died of smoke inhalation and thermal burns. 
 
 Harling was hailed as a national hero in the wake of the event, and the Carnegie Hero Fund has made it official by naming him one of their 20 heroes for 2017 on Wednesday. 
 
 Many of the other individuals who received the 2017 award were recognized for attempting to save victims from drowning, fire, or assault. Of the 20, Harling was one of only three who passed away in his act of heroism. 
 
 Harling's family will also receive a monetary grant - the exact amount of which was not disclosed - in recognition of his heroism. 
 
 In a "Deed of Trust" written out in 1904, Andrew Carnegie laid out in grand terms the need for recognition of heroes in our society: 
 
 
 
 "Gentlemen: We live in a heroic age. Not seldom are we thrilled by deeds of heroism where men or women are injured or lose their lives in attempting to preserve or rescue their fellows; such the heroes of civilization. The heroes of barbarism maimed or killed theirs. I have long felt that the heroes and those dependent upon them should be freed from pecuniary cares resulting from their heroism." 
 
 A total of 9,934 heroic individuals have been honored since the award's established 113 years ago. 
 
 Image via GoFundMe 
 
 ||||| “A hero is an ordinary person facing extraordinary circumstances and acting with courage, honor, and self-sacrifice”… 
 
 
 
 Tragically, on Friday, February 05, 2016, the life of Sanford Harling III was cut short. Sanford died after running into their burning home in an attempt to save his father. He never made it back out. 
 
 
 
 Born on June 6, 2003, Sanford, also known as “Man Man”, was only 12 year old and a member of our Norristown Youth Eagles football family. In 2015, he played on the 6th grade team. On the football field, Sanford could be seen cheering on his teammates and praying for them. Off the field, his personality was bright and comical. 
 
 
 
 He is survived by his loving mother, Dana, his father Sanford, Jr., and his 8 siblings. Our goal is to raise money to help the family recover what they lost in the fire and to give Sanford the proper burial that a hero deserves. The entire home was a loss and we are hoping that our community will come together to ease this family’s pain during this difficult time. Any amount will help and 100% of the funds raised will go to the Harling family. 
 
 
 
 R.I.P. Sanford! 
 
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– As a raging fire burned through the three-story brick home of a family in Norristown, Pa., a 12-year-old boy watching the flames grew increasingly worried about his father, who was still recovering from hip-replacement surgery. Not realizing that his dad, Sanford Harling Jr., who was 58, had jumped out of a second-story window, Sanford Harling III, who was 12, broke free from a family friend and ran in to help him, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. "I’m going to go back in to get my dad because he’s walking with a walker," he said. That's the last time anyone saw him alive; firefighters found the 12-year-old on the first floor, where he'd died of smoke inhalation and thermal burns in the Feb. 5, 2016 blaze. On Wednesday, Sanford was among 20 people named national heroes by the Carnegie Hero Fund, which has bestowed the honor upon nearly 10,000 people since it was established in 1904 with the mission of freeing them from "pecuniary cares resulting from their heroism," reports Patch.com. (Each recipient receives a one-time $5,000 grant.) "As we said from the beginning, he was a hero," says Fire Chief Tom O'Donnell. Harling Jr. feels the same way, calling his son "my angel." A GoFundMe page set up to help the family of "My Little Hero!" raised nearly $42,000, surpassing its $25,000 goal. Of the 20 heroes named in 2017, Sanford was among three who died performing their heroic acts. He was a seventh grader and part of the Norristown Youth Eagles Football Program. (See how this toddler saved his twin brother's life.)