Anderson “Chase” Childers, 38, a former Georgia police officer and minor league baseball player, died Sunday while rescuing swimmers caught in a rip current off Pawleys Island, South Carolina. Childers and another bystander rushed into the water to help people in distress. Though he successfully helped save a family of five, he was swept away and drowned—tragically, in front of his wife and three children.

Originally from Kennesaw, Georgia, Childers had served with the Cobb County Police Department and previously played for Georgia State University before being drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in 2009.

A GoFundMe for his family has raised over $230,000, honoring him as a devoted husband, father, and hero who “put others’ lives above his own.”