Cactus Shadows senior heavyweight wrestler Tyler Collins keeps racking up wins and medals, but it is his life-saving medal as a Boy Scout that will forever stand out in his life. (Photo: Richard Obert, azcentral sports)
After each of his 38 pins, becoming Cave Creek Cactus Shadows’ all-time record-holder for consecutive wins, senior heavyweight wrestler Tyler Collins picks his opponents up and pats them on the back.
“I’ve always been taught to show respect,” he said. “If you don’t, you can’t expect anything in return.”
Holding a 50-0 record and No. 1 seed heading into this week’s state tournament, Collins’ biggest win didn’t come on a wrestling mat.
It came five years ago, when he was 12, as a Boy Scout. Deep in the Grand Canyon, he saved a friend, who was caught in an undercurrent in a pool under a waterfall.
On a backpacking expedition with his Boy Scout troop through the Grand Canyon, fellow scout Michael Barnett went for a swim in a pool under Mooney Falls at Supai. Barnett was overwhelmed by the current.
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Collins jumped in and swam to Barnett, who was able to get on his back. Collins got to the wall for safety with Barnett.
“He’s my angel,” said Barnett, who is a junior goalie on the Cactus Shadows soccer team. “Tyler has always had a big heart.
“I realized when people say, ‘I’ll be there for you,’ I know that Tyler really is there for you.”
Collins, now 6-foot-1, 270 pounds, was 5-9, 188 that day in the Grand Canyon. Collins, who had previously swam in that spot, remembered how strong the currents were under the fall where Barnett was stuck.
“The vortex of water crashing down sucked him in,” said Tom Collins, Tyler’s father. “He battled to stay afloat. He said, ‘I cant do it.’ Tyler yelled out, ‘You never give up.’ … The current was quite tumultuous. I was there to assist, and I was afraid.
“… Boy Scouts have been around 100 years, and maybe 1,000 Boy Scouts have been honored with a life-saving award, and Tyler was one of them. It was amazing.”
During the national life-saving Boy Scout recognition process, Tyler Collins wrote in his report:
“Michael said, ‘l don’t want to die,’ and, ‘How did you get out before?’ All I could say to Michael was, ‘No, don’t give up hope. Don’t stop. We can do this!’ I wanted to say more, but I was tired.
“I never truly gave him the answer of how I got out before because I knew he wouldn’t be able to do it since l am 5-9 and about 188 pounds, while Michael is less than 5 feet tall and half my weight. You had to get a good foot hold and push off the rocks with all your strength and swim like crazy until the current doesn’t have you in order to get out.
“Since Michael was so tired already, I knew he couldn’t swim out on his own, and I didn’t have the strength to carry us both out. We got up to where I was before and there was a rock you could stand on, so we took the advantage to gain energy. As we were gaining our energy back, I was calling for help as loud as I could. My dad heard me and swam out ahead of where we were so Michael and I scaled the wall to get to my dad. Michael went first since he was more tired than me, and in case if he fell, I could catch him.”
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It is something that forever connects him with Barnett.
“I didn’t really think of it that much at the time, but when I saw his parents, they were like, ‘Oh, my God, thank you so much,’ ” Collins said.
Collins’ story was featured in a Boys Life article, “A True Story of Scouts in Action.”
Both of Barnett’s parents, Stacey and Philip, led the Scouts then.
“Michael comes up to us, and tells us what Tyler did, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God,’ ” Stacey Barnett said. “We went to the award ceremony for Tyler. It’s very rare for a Boys Scout to receive such an honor. About 2 percent of all Eagles Scouts receive this medal.”
It didn’t really sink in with Collins until about three months later, when he saw a June 2012 article in The Arizona Republic about a 16-year-old Boy Scout from Utah drowning in the same area below Mooney Falls.
Collins thought of becoming an Eagle Scout, but he became too involved in football and wrestling when he started high school.