Wyoming College Wrestler Hailed As Hero After Jumping On Grizzly Bear To Save Teammate’s Life

A college wrestler from Wyoming is being hailed as a hero after he risked his own life by jumping on a grizzly bear to save his friend.

Kendall Cummings and Brady Lowry are college wrestlers at Northwest College in Powell, Montana, and they were attacked by a grizzly bear on Saturday night in the Shoshone National Forest, where they had been hiking and searching for antlers. Lowry was the one who was initially attacked by the bear.

“It shook me around and I didn’t know what to do,” Lowry said afterwards, according to NBC Montana. “I curled up in a ball and it got me a few more times.”

Cummings Takes Action

After seeing his friend get attacked, Cummings knew he had to do something. 

“I didn’t want to lose my friend. It was bad,” he later said. “There was a big ol’ bear on top of him. I could have run and potentially lost a friend, or get him off and save him.”

Risking his own life, Cummings went after the bear. 

“I grabbed and yanked him hard by the ear,” he told Cowboy State Daily.

The bear responded by charging at Cummings at a terrifying speed. After knocking him on the ground, the bear attacked him.

“I could hear when his teeth would hit my skull, I could feel when he’d bite down on my bones and they’d kind of crunch,” Cummings recalled. “It tackled me, chewed me up a bit, and then when it was done it wandered off, and I started calling out for Brady to make sure he was alright.”

Find out more about what went down in the video below.

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Bear Comes Back

Unfortunately, the bear was not gone for long.

“The bear circled back around, and it got me again, chewed on me, and that’s when it got my head and cheek,” Cummings said. “And then it went away again for whatever reason.”

Cummings lay still this time for a few minutes, not wanting to be noticed by the bear again, should the creature return for a second time. Finally satisfied that the bear was gone, he got up and managed to find Lowry, and the pair then made the five mile hike back from where they had started their walk. 

The young men were rushed to Billings Clinic Hospital, where each of them have since undergone surgery. Cummings had to get 60 staples in his head, and was left with large lacerations to his head, arms, and legs. Lowry was left with a broken arm as well as lacerations to his back, shoulder, and right leg. 

Watch Cummings and Lowry tell their story in the video below. 

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‘I Owe Him Everything’

Lowry now credits his teammate with saving his life.

“I can’t even express how grateful I am for him,” Lowry said. “I don’t know what I’m going to pay him back, I don’t. I owe him everything.”

“We’re brothers,” he added. “We’d do anything for each other.”

Lowry also offered some advice to others hiking in the woods, saying that he and Cummings had seen lots of bear droppings and other signs of the animal in the area on their hike prior to the actual attack. 

“If you’re seeing bear tracks, bear tracks on the ground, probably turn around and walk the other way,” he advised. 

Both Cummings and Lowry said that they plan to continue wrestling and hunting in the future, and they even hope to return to wrestling competitions at some point this season, despite their injuries.

“I’d never put it past a wrestler,” Cummings said. “Wrestlers never say ‘never.’”

God bless Cummings for doing whatever it took to save his buddy’s life! Please join us in saying a prayer that each of these young men have a smooth recovery.