RedState’s Rusty Weiss brought you the story earlier Tuesday about the heroic 16-year-old lifeguard who battled fierce waves to save a 10-year-old boy at Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz, California, on Saturday. Waves rose as high as 10 feet due to heavy El Niño hurricane swells, and the surf was raging.
The child was exhausted after the ordeal but was evaluated by paramedics, deemed to be OK, and reunited with his parents. The teen, whose name is reportedly Ryder (no last name published because he’s a minor) and is a rookie in his first year on the job, just kept marching on, and returned for another shift the very next day.
I’ve been an ocean swimmer my entire life, and the video is pulse-pounding. The waves just kept pulling them back as they tried to get to shore. Only once have I been truly terrified; we were in Hawaii, and I swam out a ways. When I tried to come back, I belatedly noticed I was swimming hard — but making no progress. Eventually I swam sideways to a different part of the shore and managed to crawl out. And the waves were nowhere near the size of what these guys faced.
I can only imagine how this lifeguard was feeling. He didn’t back down, though, and ultimately succeeded in saving himself and the child. As Rusty reported, President Donald Trump’s second son Eric saw the clip and said the lifeguard deserved the highest civilian honor and that the episode showed “the best of America.”
Dad noticed, and in a Truth Social post, he said he’s going to bring the hero to White House to honor him. And he might just bring along the presumably extremely grateful 10-year-old:
https://t.co/C80CekPIUk pic.twitter.com/JA5YBREmdg
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 28, 2026
Watch: Pulse-Stopping Video of Teen Lifeguard Saving Boy—Eric Trump Calls for Highest Civilian Honor
It’s unclear if Trump plans to give the lifeguard the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which would be the nation’s highest civilian award. He only said he’d give him a “High Civilian” honor.
Rusty described the precocious lifeguard’s heroics:
In the footage, the teenage lifeguard can be seen repeatedly diving under the pounding whitewater, never once letting go of the struggling boy as massive waves repeatedly crash over both of them.
It was a relentless effort on the part of the young man. The stamina alone to keep fighting is something."The waves themselves, just the sound of them crashing, it demanded everyone's attention," a witness described to CBS News Bay Area...
Just incredible.
The praise for the young man continues to pour in:
This lifeguard is an absolute UNIT. The fact he never let go, never panicked, and never gave up to save himself is apex-predator heroics.
— Bryan Beal 🎧 (@bryanrbeal) July 28, 2026
And only 16??!!
Unreal. https://t.co/01fAM0LaXZ
This kid rocks: First year lifeguard in California pulls off an incredible rescue to save a little boy, is officially tougher than the waves
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) July 28, 2026
pic.twitter.com/4UlwMbLVFT
We see all too many examples of young people acting badly in America, but this is a reminder that there are plenty of awesome ones too. Hopefully we’ll soon be seeing Ryder at the White House. It’s well deserved, and would be the experience of a lifetime.
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