The Teacher Who Never Met Her, Then Died Saving Her From a Myrtle Beach Rip Current

A husband and father who had never met the little girl thrashing in the surf swam out and pulled her to safety at Myrtle Beach this month — then the same rip current pulled him under, and he never came back up.

On the night of August 8, 10-year-old Summer McCallum was swept more than 30 yards offshore by a rip current at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, during a family trip her uncle had planned to mark the sixth anniversary of her father's death. Her uncle, Ernest McCallum, swam out to help but was pulled away by the same current. Derrick Moore, a 47-year-old stranger on the beach who knew neither of them, went in after her. He told Summer to hold onto his arm and stayed with her until other beachgoers reached them with boogie boards, then pushed her toward the rescuers so they could pull her in. Moore himself went missing in the water. His body washed ashore the next morning.

Moore taught physical education and health at Rockbridge Elementary School in DeKalb County, Georgia, where students called him "Coach," and he was a father of four. He had previously been named teacher of the year at another school, and started a soccer program for students who wanted to play despite never having played the sport himself. His death fits a pattern local officials say repeats every summer: rip currents forming right after lifeguards go off duty, at the exact moment a beach looks calmest and safest.

Horry County Chief Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard confirmed Moore's identity and cause of death. Myrtle Beach police and fire crews, along with the U.S. Coast Guard, searched through the night before recovering his body near 11th Avenue South the following morning. Officials say the incident happened in an unpatrolled stretch of beach after lifeguards had already ended their shift. Moore's funeral was held on August 26 in Georgia.

Ernest McCallum, Summer's uncle, said Moore "not only saved Summer's life" but "his own, too," adding: "He was a hero before that day ... He just became a hero to everybody else." Moore's mother, Suzette Moore, said: "My son is the type of person that would do it again. Even though we have lost my son, I'm not mad at anybody." A former coworker remembered him simply: "He was just an amazing, amazing man ... That's who he was. He was our hero."

Beyond the August 26 funeral, neither family has announced a permanent memorial, and local outlets have not reported any school district or city plans for one — so whether Moore is honored with a scholarship, a plaque, or a lasting beach-safety campaign remains unconfirmed for now. Family members have said the McCallums and the Moores intend to stay in touch.

A stranger with no connection to a drowning child went into a rip current anyway, saved her, and did not survive it himself — a reminder of how fast conditions can turn once a beach empties out for the evening, and of the kind of man his own students and coworkers say Derrick Moore was.