Thanks

Thanksgiving is eight days away and thought today is a good time to express some thanks.

Last night I attended the retirement dinner for L. A. County Lifeguard Section Chief Jon Moryl in Santa Monica. I saw a lot of the old time 'guards who were on their way out when I started 31 years ago. One of the retirees worked for 55 years as a recurrent or seasonal lifeguard. I said to him, "I ask myself every year how long I'll lifeguard. How did you do it?"er His reply was, "I guess I wasn't very smart." Nothing could be further from the truth.

I realize that almost everything I have is due to lifeguarding and more basically because of swimming. In the summer of '72 I watched Mark Spitz win seven gold medals in swimming. Well, my Grandparents had a pool and I swam there all the time, how hard a sport could it be, I wondered. I had no idea. I joined the high school swim team convinced that I would soon be on my way to glory.

Our coach, Neal Newman, quickly corrected this notion. "Tony, you're swimming 30 yards for every 25 yard lap. You're swimming from side to side in the lane." Coach would move his hand in a snakelike motion to indicate what I was doing. Needless to say I was disheartened. I learned there was a swim club in Santa Monica where I could workout after the high school workouts. I put in a lot of yards and was named most improved swimmer at the year end awards banquet.

Each year saw improvement and as a senior I applied to UCLA but wasn't accepted. I was off to SMCC (now Santa Monica College). Our coach was the legendary John Joseph. JJ was a great inspiration to me. His quiet demeanor and firm leadership made me want to work harder than I had before. He had a great saying when we were dead dog tired in the middle of a grueling set, "Don't let anything hold you back but fear itself." Well, we weren't afraid of anything so nothing held us back.

A lot of the guys who were a year ahead of me were lifeguards and in April of '77 Art Verge, Eddy Love and others convinced the new guys to try out for the lifeguards. I had no idea what lifeguarding was. As a kid I went to the beach once in awhile but I didn't like the sand or wearing a wet swimsuit. In fact, I used to change out a wet suit into a dry one after coming out of the water.

The test at Santa Monica south was a mass swim, as it is today, from tower 24 to tower 16. It's April and the water was cold, there were a few hundred people trying out, it was mayhem. Some how I finished in 32nd place. I was in the second Rookie School.

I worked on the beach during the summers while I went to UCSB and taught Junior Lifeguards for three years. In 1985 my wife and I moved to the San Joaquin Valley where I coached water polo and swimming and I came back to the beach for the summer vacations. In '89 Eddy Love called me and asked if I wanted to teach sailing for this new program he helped create. It's called the W.A.T.E.R. (Water, Awareness, Training, Education, and Recreation) Program. I said, "Eddy, I don't know how to sail." He said he'd teach me. I didn't hesitate to say "Yes!"

We moved back to Los Angeles and so began eight years of full time work in the youth programs. Eddy taught me how to sail, he put me in a Sabot with his wife Sally and spent about half an hour in a chase boat yelling instructions. Somehow I learned and went on to be one of the sailing instructors along side George Hale. We had a blast most of the time.

In 1992, our first son Hunter was born and in 1993 I decided I wanted to work on the Baywatch which meant I needed to have an EMT certificate. Becoming an EMT not only allowed me to work on Baywatch and qualify for a bonus with the Lifeguards, it enabled me to become a Set Medic.

I am so grateful to swimming and the coaches and to Lifeguarding and the mentors I've had that lead me to a job where I can provide for my family and have a chance to work at the beach and be a positive example for the beach patron. My skills as an EMT are a comfort to me and my family because of the assistance I can provide to people in need.

Be well,

Tony