Laguna’s Local Heroes

Lifeguards celebrate 90 years of service with relay, rescue stories

By Daniel Langhorne, Special to the Independent

Laguna Beach lifeguards from across the decades suited up Saturday for a run-swim-paddle relay at Main Beach to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Marine Safety Department.

About 60 lifeguards and retired lifeguards charged the course in six-person teams and another 140 retired lifeguards, family members, and friends cheered them on from the boardwalk.

“Having the guys from the past that are still supportive of marine safety and public safety and still interested in promoting the Marine Safety Department is great,” Marine Safety Chief Kevin Snow said. “It makes me really proud to be the current chief.”

Snow added that the annual run-swim-paddle relay, which was held for the 30th time this year, is important for building camaraderie among rookie and veteran lifeguards. It also keeps people committed to their physical fitness, he said.

“You learn a lot about the present from the past,” Snow said. “These men and women provided a base to ensure this department became a professional public safety entity in the city.”

Surfing historian and retired lifeguard Craig Lockwood, 81, recently published his latest book “Lifeguarding Laguna” to preserve the photos and stories of Laguna Beach lifeguards. His book is now available on Amazon.

In the 1920s, the lifeguards started out as a group of volunteers who wanted to protect their community. The Laguna Beach Lifeguard Department was officially created in 1929. Ed Hobart and George Griffin were among the first lifeguards hired by the city and are known for lifeguarding Main Beach on horses. At that time, towers covered seasonal crowds on some beaches.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Laguna Beach lifeguards were transformed into a professional marine safety organization, training in first aid and water rescue skills. According to Lockwood, Laguna Beach was the first city in the United States to require all of its lifeguards to be certified as emergency medical technicians.

“In our case, the local heroes were lifeguards,” Lockwood said.

Lockwood lifeguarded at Woods Cove as a young man and has stayed in touch with fellow lifeguards through the years. While writing the book he still learned how much he didn’t know about the history of local lifeguards.

“The beauty of the books is they have a long shelf life,” he said.

Former lifeguard Dale Ghere and former Laguna Lifeguard Chief Mark Klosterman assisted Lockwood in compiling narratives and photos for the book. Ghere started collecting stories of noteworthy rescues when he helped coordinate the first reunion for veteran lifeguards in 2004.

He’s since curated more than 200 stories of Laguna Beach lifeguards and published many of them online at oldlagunalifeguard.blogspot.com.

One of Ghere’s favorite stories is about a Laguna Beach lifeguard who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

The lifeguard was aboard a destroyer anchored in Pearl Harbor when a plane crashed on the deck of a carrier and skidded into the ocean. The lifeguard dove in to save the pilot and struggled to open the plane’s cockpit as it sank to the bottom of the harbor. Knowing that the lifeguard was running out of air, the pilot waved to the lifeguard and pointed to the surface so at least one of them would survive.

During the time Ghere lifeguarded in Laguna Beach from 1960 to 1974, the department was staffed by young people who grew up in town and intimately knew its shoreline. At that time, lifeguards depended more on their knowledge of the city’s beaches than formal training.

During his watch, the city changed its policy to allow 16-year-olds to be hired as rookie lifeguards. They were partnered with experienced lifeguards on Main Beach for two years to help tell people alcohol isn’t allowed on the beach and take care of dogs off-leash. Rookies also teamed up with senior lifeguards at the city’s other towers to learn more about the unique characteristics of each beach before being sent out on their own.

“The guys are trained today in so many things that we weren’t aware of,” Ghere said.