Future generations of Georgia State baseball players will take the field beneath the name of one of the program’s most accomplished players — and one whose courage extended far beyond the game.
The University System of Georgia Board of Regents approved the naming of Georgia State’s new baseball facility in May. The field will be known as Chastain Childers Field, honoring Carnegie Medal recipient Anderson Chase Childers through a gift from longtime Georgia State supporters Barbara and Zachary Chastain. The stadium is expected to open for the 2027 baseball season.
Zachary Chastain and Childers were both four-year lettermen for the Panthers and members of the team that won the 2009 Colonial Athletic Association Championship. Childers finished his Georgia State career ranked among the program’s leading all-around players and was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 2009 Major League Baseball draft. He played two seasons in the Orioles’ minor-league system before beginning a career in law enforcement.
The Chastain family chose to use its support of Georgia State baseball to ensure that Childers’ name—and the example he left behind—would remain connected to the program.
“The Chastain family’s commitment to honoring Chase Childers ensures his legacy of courage, character and service will forever remain a part of our baseball program,” Georgia State Director of Athletics Charlie Cobb said.
After leaving professional baseball, Childers joined the Cobb County Police Department. During his service, he received the department’s Life Saving Award. He later worked as a contractor and was the father of three children.
On July 13, 2025, the 38-year-old Childers was visiting the beach near Pawleys Island, South Carolina, with his wife and young children when several swimmers became stranded at a point about 150 feet from shore in an area affected by currents.
When Childers became aware of the danger, he immediately ran into the ocean and swam toward the struggling swimmers. He continued beyond several of them, apparently believing that another person remained in danger. Another man followed him into the water and eventually reached Childers, who was unresponsive. The man attempted to tow him toward shore, but they became separated in the rough surf. The other swimmers returned safely to land. Police, firefighters, and the Coast Guard then searched for Childers, who later was found after he drifted a considerable distance from where he was last seen. He had drowned.
The Hero Fund posthumously awarded Childers the Carnegie Medal for his attempt to save others from drowning. He was also selected by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society as a 2026 Citizen Honors Award recipient.
Chastain Childers Field will place his name permanently within the baseball program where he once distinguished himself as an athlete. More significantly, it will remind the players who follow him that Childers’ greatest contribution was not recorded in a box score, but in the moment he willingly risked his life for people he did not know.