Before his retirement and before he started to do marathon swims, Judge Peter Pontzer was on vacation when his innate desire to help kicked into action when he ended up rescuing a teenage boy off the shores of Emerald Isle in North Carolina.

During the summer of 2015. While swimming in the Atlantic Ocean, a 13-year-old boy was caught by a strong current that took him farther and farther from the barrier island. He could not get back to dryland, fighting against the choppy water. Well over 100 meters from help, the young boy screamed, hoping someone would hear him.

From a house along the beach, the then 51-year-old Pontzer was told of the boy’s panicked cries for help. “On the beach on that day, I just reacted,” he recalled. “It just needed to be done and I did it.”

Limbing quickly on a sprained ankle, Judge Pontzer instinctively ran to the water as he grabbed a rescue tube that was posted on the beach for these exact situations. He launched himself into the surf. As he waded through the shallows, he was joined by another man. Dolphining and swimming through the shallows and surf, the pair swam a diagonal course of 150 meters to the boy, who had fortunately then turned on his back to float.

Pontzer told the boy to hold onto the rescue tube, and the other man helped the boy maintain his hold. Swimming against the current at first, Pontzer towed the tube toward shore, the other man aiding by swimming as best he could while making sure the boy was hanging on.

After reaching waist-high water, the older men walked the boy to shore where he was treated by emergency medical personnel.

But his self-imposed duties were not yet done for the day. On hearing of another boy who was trapped in the churning waters, Pontzer re-entered the surf to search for him. Fortunately, the other boy made it back to the beach where he collapsed and was recovered by others.

Pontzer was later hospitalized for he sustained a stress fracture in his sprained ankle. Injured or not, Judge Pontzer was awarded the 2021 Carnegie Medal for Civilian Heroism – and then launched his marathon swimming career.

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