\u201cMy buddy Ron sent me a picture,\u201d Sass said. \u201cHe goes, \u2018This is you, isn\u2019t it?\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018Yeah that\u2019s funny.\u2019 I sent it to my friend who works at the post office. \u2018Look WGN caught me working.\u2019 I really didn\u2019t think anything of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chicago did.<\/p>\n
\u201cHERO CROSSING GUARD,\u201d WGN Morning News reporter Marcus Leshock\u00a0posted\u00a0on X, along with the helicopter footage.<\/p>\n
The post spread like wildfire through a city parched for something kind and beautiful. By the next morning, Sass\u00a0was in the WGN Morning News<\/a>\u00a0studio recounting the tale. School was canceled that day due to the cold, so Sass was available.<\/p>\n \u201cI look at it with these kids as I wouldn\u2019t treat them any different than I treat my own daughter,\u201d Sass told the WGN hosts.<\/p>\n I posted the segment on Instagram the day after it aired on WGN. Someone treating all children like his own can\u2019t be shared and shouted and celebrated loud enough, to my mind.<\/p>\n Turns out we have a mutual friend.<\/p>\n Lynn Gilbertsen, whose\u00a0family adventures<\/a>\u00a0I wrote about in August 2020, sent me a note letting me know she teaches Sass\u2019 9-year-old daughter. He brings her family venison jerky. I asked her to put us in touch. We talked the next day.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of my crossing guard supervisors told us once, \u2018These are our babies,\u2019\u201d Sass told me. \u201cIt hit me so hard. Ever since then, I treat them like they\u2019re my own child. Like how I\u2019d want my daughter to be treated.\u201d<\/p>\n The day of the water main break, the forecast didn\u2019t call for snow. Kids were walking to school in sneakers.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw Jose and I know he doesn\u2019t like to get his shoes wet or dirty,\u201d Sass said. \u201cI looked at him like \u2018What do you weigh, 80?\u2019 He\u2019s like \u201860.\u2019 I go, \u2018Would it be OK if I pick you up?\u2019 He was like, \u2018OK, we can do that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n And they did. If you watch the whole WGN clip, you see Sass helping other pedestrians \u2014 including families with strollers \u2014 navigate the mess.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things I love about being a crossing guard is I get to meet all these different people,\u201d he said. \u201cEspecially in our little corner of the North Side, it\u2019s so diverse. I tell people all the time our neighborhood is like the UN. We\u2019re so lucky to have all these different cultures and know people from all over the world. It\u2019s so beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n Sass, raised in Chicago, is a longtime rugby player, formerly for the Chicago Westside Condors.<\/p>\n \u201cRugby really opened my eyes up to the world,\u201d he said. \u201cI met my wife playing rugby. I played in South Korea, Scotland, the Bahamas. The nice thing about rugby is you have a friend anywhere you go in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Ron Estrada, the buddy who alerted Sass to his burgeoning fame, also played rugby. After watching his longtime friend \u2014and groomsman\u00a0\u2014 get some much-deserved recognition, Estrada set up a\u00a0GoFundMe<\/a>\u00a0in his honor.<\/p>\n \u201cThis fundraiser is a way for everyone to say thank you,\u201d Estrada wrote on the page, \u201cwhether it\u2019s buying Joe a coffee, a cold Old Style, or some sausages, every donation is a gesture of gratitude. HALF of what we raise will go directly to Joe and his family and THE OTHER HALF will be donated to Project HOOD, a Chicago charity that our guy loves.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Joe](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ctc-l-heidi-stevens-joe-sass-01.jpg\")
Joe Sass, a crossing guard at Jamieson Elementary School in West Ridge, was recorded by WGN News hoisting a student over his shoulder and carrying him across a slushy mess caused by a water main break on Jan. 22, 2026. (Ceridwen Sass)<\/p>\n