Trump plans White House honor for Ryder Williams, the 16-year-old lifeguard who rescued a 10-year-old from 10-foot waves at Santa Cruz

A 16-year-old California State Parks lifeguard, Ryder Williams, fought violent surf at Seabright State Beach in Santa Cruz on Saturday to save a 10-year-old boy swept out by a powerful southern swell.

The rescue

Scott Vander Dussen, a Santa Cruz resident photographing the beach, noticed the child in distress after a large wave left behind a field of white foam. "When the wave crashed, it left white foam, and I could see a black dot: it was his head being sucked out of the water," he told KTVU. The boy had been pulled roughly 13.7 meters from shore. Williams entered the water as multiple bystanders tried and turned back against the force of the waves.

The rescue lasted just over two minutes. Video shows Williams and the boy repeatedly disappearing under walls of water, the lifeguard maintaining contact throughout. A second lifeguard and a small human chain helped bring both to the sand. The boy was uninjured and returned to his parents.

Tom Gill, president of the United States Lifesaving Association and a Virginia Beach lifeguard for more than three decades, watched the footage. "You never see panic," Gill said. "He does such a good job maintaining contact with the victim and understanding the situation and what he has to do to maintain safety."

“This was really simply a human helping a human.”

A weekend of dangerous surf

The National Weather Service had issued beach hazard warnings for the San Francisco Bay Area and Central Coast, citing strong rip currents, waves reaching three meters, and heavy shorebreak. Storms across the Pacific this summer fueled an unusually active southern-swell season. Meteorologist Cynthia Palmer noted that deceptive calm can mask the energy moving through the water.

Santa Cruz Fire and State Parks lifeguards reported 29 rescues across area beaches from Friday through Sunday. In June, two Bay Area college students died after being swept from a beach near Santa Cruz, and a five-year-old girl died after being pulled into the sea at Laguna Beach.

Presidential recognition

The rescue footage accumulated millions of views across social platforms and reached the White House. President Trump posted on X that Williams was a "young hero" and said he intended to invite the teenager, his family, and possibly the rescued boy to the White House. "Very brave, he deserves it!" Trump wrote.

USA Today reported that three medals are under consideration: the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, or the Presidential Citizens Medal. Wyatt Werneth, a spokesman for the American Lifeguard Association, expressed hope the recognition would help elevate lifeguards to the status of first responders.

The lifeguard and his training

Williams is a high school student trained through a California State Parks program. His mother told Le Soir she was deeply moved by the outpouring of support but declined crowdfunding offers, instead urging donations to the youth lifeguard training program that gave her son the skills for the rescue.

The rescue drew widespread admiration online. Eric Trump also weighed in, writing that the lifeguard should receive the highest civilian honor and calling the act "truly the best of America."