Heroism rarely comes with time to prepare.
For Samuel Hardin Adcock and James Alan Garner of Columbia, Tennessee, it came on the banks of the Duck River — and required a decision made in seconds.
On May 23, 2025, 25-year-old Colin McNary, who has severe autism, ran into the Duck River at a boat ramp in Chickasaw Trace Park. The current quickly swept him downstream.
Adcock, 26, and Garner, 41, were nearby with Garner’s family when they saw what was happening.
Adcock immediately entered the river and began swimming downstream after McNary. Garner told his two children to get out of the water and go to their car before he entered the river and followed.
The rescue would take them about 1,000 feet downstream.
Adcock eventually caught McNary after the current carried him into calmer water. But the danger wasn’t over. As McNary struggled to stay afloat, he submerged Adcock, forcing Adcock to push away long enough to get air.
Adcock found footing on an underwater tree limb and regained hold of McNary. When Garner reached them, the two men worked together to push and pull McNary toward the riverbank.
They reached a large tree root, but a steep, rocky ledge prevented them from climbing out.
Garner tried to find another route, swimming about 120 feet upstream before determining there wasn’t one. He returned and helped keep McNary calm while they waited for rescuers.
Eventually, a rescue boat arrived and took McNary back to the boat ramp, where his parents were waiting. He was transported to a hospital. The boat returned for Adcock and Garner.
All three were cold and exhausted, but none was injured.
The story could have ended there.
It didn’t.
Still wearing their wet clothes from the rescue, Adcock and Garner later went to the hospital to check on the man whose life they had helped save.
For their actions, both men were named 2026 recipients of the Carnegie Medal, considered North America’s highest honor for civilian heroism.
The Carnegie Hero Fund recognizes people who enter extreme danger while saving or attempting to save others. Adcock and Garner were among 18 people honored in the organization’s first award announcement of 2026.
They didn’t enter the Duck River that day expecting recognition.
They saw someone being swept away.
They went after him.
And sometimes going Above & Beyond is exactly that simple — seeing someone who needs help and deciding you won’t stand on the bank and watch.
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