Members of the 90 member national championship lifeguard team from Monmouth County. They are holding the USLA trophy. From OG team are Justin Lubas (L), Michelle Davidson and Jack Green IV. Ocean Grove beach, August 21, 2014. Photo by Paul Goldfinger © Click to enlarge
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger. 2014.
Until this year, the United States Lifesaving Association’s National Team Championship had been dominated by the team from Los Angeles County for 27 straight years. The last time Monmouth County had won that honor was in 1983.
Needless to say, the dudes from LA must have been a bit cocky going into this year’s competitions at Virginia Beach, but the powerful squad of 90 swimmers, rowers and line pullers from Monmouth County went to compete, as they do every year, and they went to win.
Among the team were 5 members from Ocean Grove including Michelle Davidson, Justin Lubas, Rick Cuttrell, Matt Gannon and Jack Green IV. Jack was also the coach.
In Ocean Grove, the role of lifeguard often gets handed down from one generation to the next. It’s sort of a cultural phenomenon in the Grove along with voluteering for the Fire Department.
The five OG lifeguards who went have been lifeguarding here for many years. The Monmouth County team contains quite a few college swimmers, and there is a strong tradition in this area of participating in life guard competitions. We had one in the Grove in July (see link below.) No wonder the team did so well in Virginia. It’s part of the fabric of life at the Jersey Shore.
Link to recent lifeguard competititon in OG: LIfeguard link
Teams came to Virginia Beach from around the country, but they can come from lakes and other waterways besides oceans. The California team has the advantage of training year round.
The United States Lifesaving Association trophy temporarily located in Monmouth County until next year. Click to enlarge. Blogfinger photo.
The Howard A. Lee trophy, which was on display today at the beach office, has been passed around to the overall winning team each year for the last 33 years, but mostly it has lived in LA. Now it will get some of that Jersey salty air. We learned about it from Jack Green IV, and we met 3 Ocean Grove athletes at the Beach Office today. Those OG lifeguards who were there today for our photo shoot were all for carrying the heavy trophy down to the ocean for their portrait on the rocks.
Michelle Davidson told us that quite a few women are on the team, and they compete against other women except for one event.
There’s no place like home: Ocean Grove, NJ. Blogfinger photo. Click to enlarge.
It is an amazing accomplishment to win a national championship in any sport, and this lifeguard victory is no exception. The Monmouth County Freeholders have already honored the team, and the team deserves accolades from all the shore towns at the Jersey Shore.
And here’s some happy music from Ocean Grove via the Bahamas to dance to and celebrate with—all 90 of you. Come on and do it!!
STEVIE S. with “Hold Ya Head.”
Ruth Etta Mac Neely (1896-1970) was the first female lifeguard in OG. She saved two students and a teacher from the water at her private school in Florida and was awarded a Carnegie Medal for Heroism. In 1917 she was hired at the Lillagore South End Bathing Beach. Her tenure was troubled as young men from AP would feign drowning in order to be rescued by her. She was then instructed only to rescue women and children. Mac Neely married and spent the remainder of her life in AP.
The image a lot of us have of a lifeguard is that 18 year old high school senior/college freshman, lean and strong, up in the chair with the bright red trunks. This tournament shows the reality of lifeguarding around the United States–men and women, wiser, stronger, well beyond their teenage years. To win this tournament is a great accomplishment. The competition is always fierce. All of us Monmouth wave jumpers can, as usual, feel very safe in the Atlantic waters this summer of 2023.
Did you know that Michelle Davidson successfully swam the English Channel some years ago?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Davidson
We also celebrate Julianna Cavano who is an Ocean Grove resident who guards in Asbury Park and is a member of the Monmouth County championship team. Jules is my god daughter, and Charlotte and I are very proud of her.