I’ll explain who Scott Ruskan is, what happened at Camp Mystic, why the Pat Tillman Award matters, other honorees at the ESPYS, and the recognition Ruskan has received since the rescue.
On July 4 last year, 27-year-old Coast Guard rescue swimmer Scott Ruskan found himself thrust into a nightmare at Camp Mystic. Floodwaters from the Guadalupe River rose with little warning, sweeping through a long-running Christian girls’ summer camp outside Kerrville, Texas, while roughly 200 campers and staff were on the grounds. Ruskan, who had finished his Coast Guard rescue swimmer training six months earlier, was flown in and left on site so helicopter seats could ferry others to safety.
That decision left him alone as the only trained responder available when communications were dead and darkness fell. With no radio and no cell service, he set up triage, organized safe zones, and carried barefoot children in the dark, moving from one frightened camper to the next. The official ESPYS release captured the scope of those three hours: he coordinated 165 rescues on a day when twenty-seven people died.
For three hours, with no radio and no cell service, he was the only trained responder on site, setting up triage, organizing safe zones, carrying children barefoot in the dark, and comforting each one before moving to the next. His coordination enabled 165 rescues on a day where twenty-seven people died. What set him apart was that he was the only person who stayed behind—voluntarily grounded—so others could be lifted out to safety.
One hundred and sixty-five campers and staff were pulled from danger that night, and the magnitude of that number tells the story in stark terms. Twenty-seven people lost their lives in the flooding, a reminder of how sudden and deadly flash floods can be, especially in tight river valleys. Ruskan’s actions were immediate, hands-on, and decisive; he didn’t wait for orders or additional resources to arrive.
The Pat Tillman Award for Service goes to someone connected to sports whose service echoes the legacy of Pat Tillman, the NFL player who left a multimillion-dollar contract to serve as an Army Ranger after September 11 and was killed in Afghanistan in 2004. Ruskan ran track and cross country at Rider University before joining the Coast Guard, and his athletic background is part of the connection the award honors. ESPN announced that he will receive the 2026 Pat Tillman Award at the ESPYS on July 15.
Since the rescue, recognition followed quickly and from high places, underscoring the national attention the Camp Mystic response drew. Ruskan was named grand marshal of the 2026 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Downtown Parade and received the Legion of Merit at the State of the Union, where he was reunited with Milly Cate McClymond, one of the girls he had carried out of the camp. The reunion with that camper highlighted the human, face-to-face consequences of his split-second choices under pressure.
The ESPYS will honor others that night as well, including former Major League Baseball pitcher Jim Abbott, who will receive the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance for his career achievements despite being born without a right hand. The late Jason Collins, who died in May of brain cancer, will receive the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage posthumously. These awards create a stage to spotlight service, sacrifice, and stories of character across sports and life.
For many families whose daughters were brought home that terrible night, medals and trophies are not necessary to remember the rescue. Still, putting Ruskan’s name on one of sports’ biggest nights ensures millions more Americans hear the story of quiet, unglamorous heroism. It also serves as a reminder that government services and trained responders matter, and that individuals who answer the call can save dozens of lives in a single night.
Ruskan’s experience also shows how training, preparation, and the willingness to stay behind can combine into outcomes that change communities. He was six months out of training when the river rose, yet his readiness and calm were the difference between life and death for many campers. That kind of effective response is the kind of service the Pat Tillman Award is meant to honor.
Public recognition matters because it frames a culture that values bravery and sacrifice, and because it encourages others to step up when disaster strikes. Ruskan’s award and the other ESPYS honorees remind us that courage takes many forms, whether on a playing field, in a classroom, or in a flood-swollen riverbank at midnight. Their stories are worth hearing and remembering.
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