That episode occurred last summer, but it still serves as a reminder to Brewsaugh why the 18-year-old Danvillian wanted to become a lifeguard.
"Luckily, emergencies like that rarely occur, but if they do, I know I and my fellow lifeguards are ready and able to take action," he said. "I also would like to think that lifeguards being at the pool and constantly watching everybody and what they're doing in the pool keeps such incidents from happening in the first place."
It could be said that lifeguarding is in Brewsaugh's blood.
"I'm a third-generation lifeguard," he said. "My grandmother, Kathleen Brewsaugh, was a lifeguard, and my dad was a lifeguard."
In fact, it was at his grandmother's house where Brewsaugh first started swimming.
"She had a pool there, and it was the focal point of our many family gatherings we would have at her house," he said. "That's where I learned to swim as a kid, and where I learned to love it."
Starting as a past-time
Swimming evolved from a past-time to a sport for Brewsaugh when he was 10 years old and joined the Dark Sharks club swimming team at the Bunny Davis Recreational Complex.
Six years later, swimming - or at least monitoring the swimming of others - became an occupation.
"I became a lifeguard at the complex here when I was 16," he said. "I was looking for a summer job, and there was an opening here for a lifeguard. It was pretty cool to find a job that involves something you love to do."
But Brewsaugh wasn't given the job just because he loved swimming.
"To qualify for the job, I had to swim 500 yards straight, and then I had to swim with a weight on my back and then on my chest for several yards," he said. "I also had to practice rescuing procedures by using dummies."
He also has served as a lifeguard in the winter months at Kentucky School for the Deaf pool.
Brewsaugh says the most important role a lifeguard plays is "keeping people safe and out of danger." As seriously as he takes that task, he admits he enjoys the camaraderie he has with fellow lifeguards and the friendships he has with swimmers.
"Most of the swimmers I deal with, whether I'm giving lessons or lifeguarding, are kids, and by far most of the kids here are under 13," he said. "I like to keep things under control, but I also like to be buddy-buddy with them at the same time - as long as they behave."
When this summer ends, Brewsaugh will move on to a new chapter in his life but one he hopes will include lifeguarding.
An honors graduate from Danville High who was a state semi-finalist in humorous interpretation on the school's nationally-renowned forensics team, he will begin his freshman year at the University of Kentucky this August.
"I hope to get a job as a lifeguard or in the summer another position at the UK pool to help pay for my college," he said.
But Brewsaugh plans to spend most of his time studying. He will be a biology major in the school's pre-med program. And the career he's eyeing right now also involves saving lives.
"I would like to be a cardiologist and also head up an intensive-care unit at a hospital," he said. "I like the challenge of being there when people are in need of help."
