Clemson University graduate student Maddie Richardson was enjoying a summer beach day with her boyfriend, Christopher Miles ‘22, on Sullivan’s Island on May 16 when a man swimming out into the ocean caught her eye.
“I noticed that he swam out decently far from his friends as they were all hanging out in knee-deep water,” says Richardson, a Master of Education in higher education and student affairs student from Delaware, Ohio. “The water was very choppy. I’ve swam all my life, competitively growing up, and love to scuba dive and snorkel – and even I wouldn’t have gone in there.”
A gut instinct made Richardson keep a corner of her eye on the man as she and Miles chatted and enjoyed the breezy afternoon.
The man couldn’t have caught the eye of a better person. Richardson lifeguarded, coached swimming and taught swimming lessons throughout high school and as an undergraduate at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. While living in Florida, she took up scuba diving as a hobby, which requires learning about ocean currents and aquatic search-and-rescue techniques.
As Richardson watched, another woman swam out to the man and immediately began waving her arms urgently. Richardson jumped into action, running across the beach to the man’s group of friends and his spouse, who were starting to panic; she reassured them she could help and to stay calm, then dove into the waves.
“I would say he was 50 yards from the shore by the time I reached him,” Richardson says. Two other good Samaritans reached the man before she did, and they were themselves fatigued from struggling against the rip current by the time Richardson got there. Her years of experience training in water clicked into autopilot as she took control of the situation.
“He was unconscious and did not seem to be breathing,” Richardson recalls. “I took hold of him and made sure to keep him floating on his back, with his airway above the water. I spoke to him as we floated there and looked for signs of breathing.”
Richardson also tried to keep the other people calm as they bobbed up and down, treading water in the waves. After a few minutes, one more good Samaritan swam out and joined the group as they desperately tried to keep the man from sinking.
“The water was so choppy – we got thrown around quite a bit,” says Richardson, who will graduate in 2027. “But I knew as long as I had the energy to help, I would stay there, and those other people were right there with me.”
The four strangers worked together to keep the man afloat for about 10 long, exhausting minutes. Finally, first responders from the Sullivan’s Island Fire Department reached the group with a jet ski towing a rescue board. Richardson and the three other helpers loaded the victim onto the board and clung to it as the first responders towed them all to shore.
Once on the beach, the emergency medical services team succeeded in getting the man to regain consciousness and resume breathing, then transported him to the Medical University of South Carolina for treatment.
[As of this writing, the 23-year-old man’s name and current condition are unknown.]
Richardson is spending her summer working as a graduate assistant for the Summer Start program, a natural extension of the sense of community that drew her to Clemson.
“I chose my major because of the passion I have for others, especially working with college students, making sure they feel advocated for, supported and heard,” she says. “I looked at many different schools for my master’s but was drawn to Clemson for the feeling of family – of us all being on the same team.”
Looking back on that fateful day, she says, a young man is alive because a handful of people happened to be on that beach who shared that same innate feeling.
“A small group of strangers came together that day to help a fellow human being,” she explains matter-of-factly. “That to me is beautiful.”
