Summer McCallum, the 10-year-old girl pulled from a rip current off Myrtle Beach on August 7, is now speaking out about the man who gave his life to save hers. Derrick Moore, 47, a physical education teacher at Rockbridge Elementary School in DeKalb County, Georgia, spotted Summer struggling in the water after lifeguards had gone off duty for the evening.
He swam out, told her to grab his arm, and pulled her toward safety - but the current pulled him under before he could get himself back to shore. His body was recovered the next morning nearly a mile from where he entered the water.
Moore, known simply as "Coach" to his students, had never met Summer or her family before that night. His daughter told reporters he "did not know the girl he risked his life to save," and family members say it wasn't the first time he'd put himself in danger for someone else - DeKalb schools' interim superintendent revealed Moore had once saved his own mother's life in an earlier emergency.
A father of four and 2024 Teacher of the Year, Moore was remembered at a public celebration of life on August 22 at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia, where students, colleagues, and family gathered to honor him. Governor Brian Kemp asked the public to pray for Moore's family and the DeKalb community following his death.
