In a Class of His Own

SAN CLEMENTE —  He wasn’t valedictorian. Not even close.

In fact, there were times when Kile Dyer didn’t think he’d graduate from high school, at least not “on time.” With after-school jobs eating up most of his spare time, he managed just a 2.2 grade-point average at San Clemente High.

But Dyer did one thing that probably no one else in his senior class had done. He saved somebody’s life.

It happened a year ago, when Dyer and a friend were jet skiing in Oceanside harbor and saw another skier go down hard. The skier didn’t get up. “When I got to him he was face down in the water,” said Dyer, a slight, soft-spoken 18-year-old. “I heard some gurgling noises, and I knew he was in trouble, so I put him on board and got him to shore.”

Paramedics took over from there. Except for a brief phone call last Christmas, Dyer and the young man he saved--Ryan Hopkins of Fallbrook--never made contact again. Not, that is, until Tuesday afternoon at Dyer’s graduation ceremony.

As Dyer walked to the front of Thalassa Stadium, expecting nothing more than to pick up his diploma, Hopkins and his parents rushed from the sidelines to hand him a commemorative plaque. The moment came and went so quickly and was so unexpected that Dyer barely reacted before following the other black-robed students to their seats.

“He looked familiar,” Dyer said of Hopkins. “But the last time I saw him, he was, well, almost dead.”

The surprise presentation was the idea of Thomas R. Anthony, outgoing associate superintendent of Capistrano Unified School District. Anthony is leaving this month to become superintendent of schools in Fallbrook, where Hopkins’ mother, Marianne Young, works as an executive assistant.

“I told him the story of how Kile saved Ryan’s life, and he took it from there,” Young said.

For nearly an hour after the ceremony, the two families stood near rows of empty folding chairs and compared notes about the accident and its aftermath. Hopkins was hospitalized for three days with a severe concussion and seawater in his lungs. He has no memory of the accident or his rescue.

“It’s a big blank to me,” said Hopkins, 23. “I was jumping waves in the harbor at noon, and the next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital around midnight.”

Through all the handshaking and hugs, Dyer stood quietly, stealing occasional glances at the plaque and shyly answering questions from two reporters. He works at Michael’s Supper Club, where he moves up to waiting tables today, he said. Someday, he hopes to be a rescue worker in the U.S. Forestry Service.

Dyer said he didn’t think much about what he did at the time of the rescue, only that he was grateful for two emergency medical classes he had taken and the sports injury training he had at a boys camp a few years back.

“He’s learned a lot through the school of hard knocks,” said his mother, Nancy Dyer. “He was stubborn and had to learn some things the hard way, but look at him now. He’s awesome.”