Saving the life of a woman who threatened to jump from a rooftop at the University of California, Davis, has earned police Officer Jon Mircetich the honor of being named California's "hero of the year" by the American Legion. In July of 1991, Mircetich, then a 22-year-old rookie with the UC Davis Police Department, climbed on to a slippery roof of a three-story student housing complex where a young woman threatened to jump after a fight with her boyfriend. The officer talked to her for more than one hour before the woman slipped and fell near the roof's edge. Mircetich lunged for the woman and grabbed her shoulder. While hanging on to a roof vent with one arm, he held on to her as she dangled and struggled in the air. Within 10 minutes the fire department was able to safely rescue the woman and the officer. Last year, Mircetich, now in his second year in the department, was named American Legion's Police Officer of the Year in Yolo County. His name was then submitted to the statewide competition for events that occurred in 1991-92. Starting in 1990-91, the American Legion's honor society, "La Societe des 40 Hommes et 8 Chevaux," has named a statewide hero once a year. Mircetich, of Davis, graduated from Davis High School and has taken several courses at UC Davis.