Evanston, Wyoming, native Kendell Cummings is a humble, soft-spoken young man. He doesn’t seek attention, nor does he revel in it when it comes his way. In fact, he’s not comfortable in the spotlight — unless it’s hovering over a wrestling mat.
When he saved his college wrestling teammate from the jaws of an angry grizzly outside Cody in October 2022, the spotlight on Cummings got bright as everyone around the globe wanted to know more about the man who was mauled by a grizzly and lived to talk about.
Cummings said he just simply did what he was supposed to do.
“I thought it was the right thing to do,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday.
On Monday, it was announced Cummings will receive a Carnegie Medal for Heroism for his actions, considered North America’s highest civilian honor for heroism.
“It’s awesome. I’m incredibly grateful,” Cummings said about the award, still clearly unaccustomed to the additional attention.
Each Carnegie Medal includes a cartouche that includes the hero’s name and details about his act of heroism. There will be a local presentation of the medal at a to-be-determined date in the future.
His wrestling coach, Jim Zeigler, said Cummings helped bring the team together even more and establish a strong family culture.
“It got guys so much closer and helped get past the petty things,” Zeigler told Cowboy State Daily. “They genuinely care so much about one another. It became even more of a family event.”
What Happened?
That autumn day while Cummings and three other college wrestling teammates were on a hike near Cody was when the angry bruin first attacked his teammate Brady Lowry. But instead of running, Cummings pulled the bear off, grabbing it by its ear.
Cummings successfully got the bear’s attention, he said. Backing up as the predator reared up toward him, he described the sensation of the bear’s putrid breath filling his nostrils, along with his own sense of dread.
Cummings also described how the bear charged at him with surprising speed, immediately knocking him to the ground. After a short while in the grip of the bear’s jaws, the apex predator stopped its attack.
While getting mauled himself, Cummings said his thoughts were not on his own injuries, but rather that the bear could attack Lowry again. It was when he stood up to look for his teammate that the bear attacked him again.
Zeigler said this selfless reaction represents everything that his program and the sport of wrestling promotes. He doubts that many people from the general public would have done what Cummings did that day.
“It’s the perfect example of the people who come here,” Zeigler said. “It’s the kind of culture we have. We stick up for each other no matter what.”
The grizzly left Cummings with major lacerations to his face, left arm and leg that doctors had to suture up, and stitches on his right hand and right leg. Cummings received 60 staples in his head and plastic surgery to address the injuries.
Lowry credits Cummings for saving his life that day. He went on to finish fifth at the 2023 NJCAA Wrestling Championships.
Last October, Cummings, Lowry and their two teammates returned to the site of the bear attack for a film documentary in the works being shot by film company Brave Wilderness.
This opportunity allowed the film crew and wrestlers to see how far their other teammates, Orrin Jackson and August Harrison, carried Cummings down the mountain on the day of the attack. That’s a piece of the story that’s often been left out.
In June, the wrestlers will continue shooting for the documentary when they take a trip to Alaska.
Where’s Cummings Now?
Cummings told Cowboy State Daily that his injuries have healed and this past season he got back to wrestling at Northwest College in Powell. He recently finished up his sophomore season on the mat, wrestling in the 141-pound weight class.
“It was good, got a couple matches in,” Cummings said.
Cummings said the bear attack didn’t do much to change his approach to wrestling, but did alter his overall perspective on life.
When asked exactly what changed with his perspective, Cummings said it’s difficult to put his finger on, but likely a newfound awareness for the fragility of life itself. Zeigler said Cummings also experienced a family tragedy at the start of the season that cemented this perspective.
“Life — it’s short and it can be over just like that,” Cummings said.
Zeigler said this perspective was ingrained upon his entire team after the bear attack.
“It made them realize they’re not invincible,” he said.
Zeigler said Cummings was an instrumental part of his wrestling team’s success this season and helped train the group for the NJCAA Wrestling Championships, where Northwest finished ninth of 53 teams earlier this month.
Even more noteworthy, the Trappers had a national champion wrestler in Azizbek Fayzullaev, who won the 184-pound weight class, his second straight national title.
Even though he wasn’t necessarily one of the team’s headline wrestlers, Cummings was a guy his teammates wanted around at all times, Zeigler said.
“He was a figure on a team everybody relied on,” Zeigler said. “They wanted him to be here.”
Around the COVID-19 pandemic years, the previously dominant Northwest program hit some low points with recruiting and results on the mat. Cummings helped lead a resurgence of the program that sparked around the time of the bear attack, which Zeigler said contributed to the entire team’s mental approach.
“We wrestle all the time, we wrestle hard,” Cummings said. “We’re working out hard and as a team we all believe that we’re good.”
This spring, Cummings will graduate from Northwest with an associate degree in business. He’s unsure where life will take him next, but said his encounter with the grizzly and the bond the traumatic event cemented between he, Lowry and the rest of his Trapper teammates will likely last for life.
This is a bond Zeigler said runs deep throughout his program, with his athletes serving as godfathers, wedding party members and lifelong teammates to each other.
“They suffer together,” Zeigler said. “Wrestling is such a demanding and physical sport.”
Contact Leo Wolfson at leo@cowboystatedaily.com
Kendell Cummings of Evanston, Wyoming, loves to get outdoors. (Courtesy Photo) 
Kendell Cummings of Evanston, Wyoming, loves to get outdoors. (Courtesy Photo) 
Kendell Cummings, left, as been awarded North America's highest civilian award for heroism, the Carnegie Medal, for saving his friend, Brady Lowry, right, from a grizzly bear attack. (Matt Idler for Cowboy State Daily)
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
