When delivering the State of the Union address (SOTU), sometimes a President will reference a special guest sitting in the gallery. Generally, these guests are ordinary citizens who exemplify the indomitable American spirit. These people are known as “Skutniks.” Examples include: Lisa Beamer, wife of 9/11 hero Todd Beamer; Civil Rights Pioneer, Rosa Parks; Wesley Autrey, a construction worker who saved a man who had fallen onto subway tracks; and Coast Guard Petty Officer Ashley Leppert who rescued dozens of people during Hurricane Harvey.
Why are they known as “Skutniks?” A better question is, who is Lenny Skutnik?
The tradition began in 1982 when then President Reagan, while delivering his first SOTU, recognized an unassuming man with dark hair and thick mustache sitting next to Nancy Reagan in the gallery. Reagan commented this man represented, “The Spirit of American Heroism at its finest.” At which point the entirety of Congress and all other attendees rose in a non-partisan standing ovation in honor of Lenny Skutnik.
On a frigid day two weeks prior to Reagan’s SOTU address, Air Florida Flight 90 pushed away from the terminal at Washington National Airport (now Reagan National) with a total of 79 passengers and crew bound for Ft. Lauderdale. Due to a winter storm the airport was experiencing delays and closed a number of runways. When Flight 90 eventually made it to the airport’s only usable runway, it was forced to wait 45 minutes for clearance to take off. Not wanting to further delay the flight, the pilot chose not to return for more de-icing, and worse, failed to turn on the plane’s own de-icing system.
Shortly after takeoff Flight 90 plunged into the frozen Potomac River near the 14th Street bridge. As commuters gathered at the bridge rail and along the banks of the river, all that was visible of the 737 fuselage was a portion of the tail. Miraculously, six people were seen clinging to the tail section.
One of those commuters standing along the Potomac was Lenny Skutnik, 28, a husband and the father of two sons. He worked for the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) where he ran errands, delivered mail and made $14,000 a year.
Fire rescue personnel were soon on the scene, but the ice filled river made it impossible to navigate inflatable boats to the survivors. A U.S. Park Police helicopter, not equipped for water rescues, rigged a rope and simple circular life ring, the type found at many hotel pools, to drag four people to the shore.
However, after being in the frigid water for nearly thirty minutes, crash victim Priscilla Tirado was unable to hold on to the ring and slipped off. Exhausted, she floundered and began to sink.
As hundreds of commuters looked on from the bank, Skutnik, the former meat packer, house painter and hamburger cook, shed his overcoat and dove into the freezing waters. Reaching Tirado, he raised her head above the water and pushed her to shore, saving her life.
Skutnik said of his actions, “I didn't have any profound thoughts. I just did it. When I got out of the water, I was satisfied. I did what I set out to do."
After the rescue, as he waited in an ambulance that had run out of blankets, Skutnik gave his coat to Joseph Stiley, a survivor of the crash who had two broken legs. Shirtless and shivering Skutnik was taken to National Hospital for Orthopedics and Rehabilitation for treatment of hypothermia. Initially he was reluctant to go, "I'd heard all these horror stories about hospitals and all the forms. The first thing I said when I got there was 'Is this going to cost me anything?' " He was immersed into the hospital hot tub for 40 minutes, free of charge. However, when Skutnik got out of the tub, he faced reporters--scores of them, frenzied and facing deadlines, all wanting to know what "it felt like."
Before the weary Skutnik could get home, a woman from ABC's Nightline show arrived at his house and told Skutnik's wife that Lenny was scheduled to be on the show that night. Mrs. Skutnik called Lenny, who on his way home from the hospital had stopped off at his father's home in nearby Springfield. She conveyed that Nightline, and 20-million viewers were expecting him for that evening’s show. However, Skutnik was exhausted from the ordeal and the pursuit of the media since his heroic swim and told his wife he didn't want to be on TV. But ever the trooper, Skutnik relented and made the appearance.
Speaking about the Nightline interview, Skutnik said: "I was nervous. I was tired. I didn't know what I was."
Of the 79 passengers and crew on Flight 90, only five survived. One of initial survivors, who made it to the surface, Arlene D. Williams, succumbed to the icy water after deferring to others to be rescued first. Also killed in the crash were Priscilla Tirado’s husband and infant son. Additionally, there were four fatalities of commuters whose cars were crushed by the plane’s landing gear as it skimmed the top of the bridge.
Skutnik retired from the CBO in 2010, and now lives in a senior community in Woodbridge, Virginia, where he spends his time fishing.
Martin Leonard Skutnik, III, was an ordinary government worker of whom President Reagan said, "Nothing had picked him out particularly to be a hero, but without hesitation there he was and he saved her life.” Lenny Skutnik threw off his coat, ignored the risks and dove into history. The first of the “Skutniks.”
Videos of Flight 90 Crash
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJvFg8gGfHE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EspDQb9EQkM
President Reagan’s Comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PixWSSeKGtI