A Look Back
By Fred Miller
Women’s History Month is a good time to review the history of South Jersey’s female ocean lifeguards.
During the first three-quarters of the 20th century, with few exceptions, the position of ocean lifeguard was a male only job. In 1975, the Atlantic City Beach Patrol hired its first female lifeguard, Virginia Gaye Kelly, and the following summer the Ocean City Beach Patrol hired their first female lifeguard, Judy Lichtner. Since then female lifeguards have played an increasingly important role in bather protection in South Jersey.
During the summer of 1922, Ocean City came within an hour of becoming the first ocean resort in the country to hire female lifeguards. On July 11, 1922, all the members of the Ocean City Beach Patrol went on strike because of the low pay. The next day the Philadelphia Bulletin grabbed readers’ attention with this headline: “Ocean City Beach Guards on Strike; May Employ Women.”
Ocean City’s mayor, Joseph G. Champion, threatened to hire women lifeguards if the men did not return to the beach. The women, all members of the Ambassador Swimming Club in Atlantic City, said, “In the interests of humanity, they’d gladly serve as guards in Ocean City.”
No females were hired because Mayor Champion agreed to raise the lifeguards’ pay from $60 a month to $100.
Wildwood became the first municipality in the country to hire female ocean lifeguards. In 1933, the Wildwood Beach Patrol hired Florence Newton and Mae Ottey to watch over their bathers.
Ocean City Mayor Harry Headley and OCBP Captain Jack G. Jernee disagreed with Wildwood’s decision to employ female lifeguards.
Headley said, “Our visitors want safety, not fades. With men’s lifeguards they know they are getting the best protection possible.” Jernee told reporters, “No woman can take the punishment handed out by a struggling, husky man when he is drowning. I’ll stack my guards up against any woman or women in the world. Given all-around tests such as are required at any seashore, and my patrol will win out.”
Times have changed since the 1930s. Females now play an important role in bather protection on the beaches of South Jersey.
The following female lifeguards have been inducted in the Ocean City Beach Patrol Hall of Fame: Kristie Brown Chisholm, Erin Curry, Stephanie Wilson Faber, Sara Griffith Sadowski, Stephanie Hauck, Carolyn Stephanik Hiener, Melissa Koch Jeck, Kim McKay, Anne Copeland Merrill, Elise Thieler, Jenna Townsend, Wendy Wallace Cerulio, and Joanna Weber.
