THE BEACH LIFEGUARDS, and that other sport
"The Los Angeles County
Lifeguards are known the world over for their mastery and dominance in ocean
aquatic competition. When they enter
that salt water arena it’s a rare day that a loss ensues. They are expected to win and they do.
Many years ago, almost
sixty-five to be exact, a group of county guards competed in a different
competition, one that was never held before and has never been held since. It was the summer of 1948 and lifeguard
forces from Santa Monica Bay to San Diego were challenged to send their best
six-man, sand volleyball teams to a competition at the courts at Will Rogers,
Santa Monica Canyon State Beach, to determine a grand champion. It was all for fun, although we were pretty
serious about it, and was to be held one afternoon and into the evening,
followed by beach party food prepared by the ladies (and well, maybe just a
little beer involved). Representing LA County,
our six man lifeguard team was amazingly composed of three sets of brothers,
all working the Will Rogers area. Our
leaders were the Shargo Brothers, Nate and Sam, who had been given the title
“Kings of the Beach” for their prowess in the sand doubles game from the middle
1930’s to the early 40’s. I was lucky to
have been assigned there as a permanent lifeguard in 1946 and played for years
with the Shargos and the other top players that congregated there at this Mecca
of beach volleyball.
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Sam second from
left, Nate second from right, 1946
(Others: George McManus, Christy
Miller, Ted Warren, Cal Porter, Bob Lee, John Dudrow)
In those days there weren’t the
hundreds of volleyball courts along the beaches that are there today, and no
tournaments that are played for thousands of dollars in prize money and
televised around the world. When I first
played in the late 1930’s early 40’s there were just four public courts in all the
north bay: the one alongside the old Ocean Park Pier where I mostly played, one
at the Santa Monica Pier, another at Sorrento Beach, and the fourth at State
Beach. The others were scattered among
the private beach clubs where sand volleyball first started in California. It is said that famous swimmer and surfer
Duke Kohanamoku introduced volleyball to the beach when he worked at the Santa
Monica Beach Club in 1926. He had played
in the first sand game ever recorded at the Outrigger Canoe Club in Hawaii in
1915. Where now there are dozens of
courts at State Beach, for our tournament we put up a second court so two games
could be played simultaneously. I don’t
remember how many teams entered. There
was the one from the Santa Monica Lifeguards, a couple from the LA City Guards,
Long Beach Guards sent a team I believe, as did Huntington Beach and guard
services further south. Lots of spectators
gathered for the occasion. Our area
Lifeguard Lieutenant, Mike Safonov, who had replaced the retiring Lt. Ted
Warren, acted as host, and our one and only captain for the whole county in those
days, Rusty Williams, was there to lend his support. George McManus who had worked as a lifeguard
since 1909 and was still guarding at this beach was there. Many well known Hollywood actors and writers
who called this their home beach and played volleyball with us were all there.
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| Victory Was Ours |
We practiced hard and long and we
knew that we were ready now and the day had come and now it was our time. Well, to make a long story short the group
above survived the many elimination rounds and as the evening darkness
approached they soundly beat the runner-up in the finals, much to the delight
of the home crowd.
Top row above: Jack Underwood, Ray Porter, Cal Porter, Don Underwood.
Bottom row: Lt. Mike Safonov, Sam Shargo, Nate Shargo,
Tarzan.
This photo made its way into
history when it and the great victory were included in the classic, definitive volleyball
book, “Sands of Time”, by Art Couvillon.
We were famous (for
two or three minutes).
The tournament was never held again;
the main reason being that the following year the Los Angeles City Lifeguards
commenced operating this beach, and all of us volleyball playing L.A. County
Lifeguards scattered north and south, most of us eventually to Zuma Beach.
Cal
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*** Many Thanks to Cal for another great story. All photos courtesy of Cal Porter. Used here with permission.
10-4
Until next time.....
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1 comment:
Nice surprise to see my Uncle Mike Safonov on your blog. Thank you for the picture.
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