The 2021 Haul: SIC Beach Patrol Alumni to Induct Four Into Its Hall of Fame
SIC Beach Patrol Alumni to Induct Four into Its Hall of Fame
The Feaster family (from left): Marc, Bill Sr. and Bill Jr.
Rob Herzog, 1986
Jordan Tryan
John McCann, Sea Isle City Beach Patrol Alumni Hall of Fame president.
Sea Isle City has its latest version of the Fab Four.
Jim Guntle, Bill Feaster Jr., Jordy Troyan and Rob Herzog have been selected as inductees for the 2021 Sea Isle City Beach Patrol Alumni Hall of Fame.
The induction ceremony will be held Oct. 2 at Carmen’s Seafood Restaurant in Sea Isle City in late afternoon. The public is invited.
Dignitaries expected to attend include U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, New Jersey state Sen. Mike Testa and Sea Isle City Mayor Leonard Desiderio, according to John McCann, the president of the SICBP Alumni Hall of Fame. Testa once was a lifeguard for the Wildwood Beach Patrol.
The induction weekend was moved to the fall to open more hotel-room opportunities for the alumni. Most of them will come from New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Some also will fly up from Florida, according to McCann, who anticipates 100-120 alumni to usher in the new honorees.
“This is a fabulous class,” McCann says. “The accomplishments of these individuals are unbelievable. They are not only great athletes and competitors, but they were also exceptional lifeguards.
“They all got along very well with the public. They were ambassadors for the city when they were lifeguards. After their lifeguard careers were over, they went on to become tremendous citizens.
“I am very proud of this group.”
Guntle excelled here during the 1970s. He also was a captain of the LaSalle University cross-country and track teams, and an all-conference selection. He has been an executive with a variety of Wall Street firms and for the last 30 years has been chairman/owner of his own stockbrokerage/investment firm.
He recalls the SICBP tenure as a significant building block.
“There was the chance to compete, which was always fun,” Guntle says, “but it also helped develop my people skills, working with people in day-to-day situations on the beach. It was a good developmental step and helped me in every aspect of my life.
“This is like Americana,” he adds of the summer beach-patrol experience. “How would you picture the All-American existence of being healthy, happy and friendly, and not having to lock your doors at night? Being with the patrol was a great experience in my life.”
Based in Virginia with a second home in Stone Harbor, Guntle passed on the lifeguard tradition to his sons Zack and Jimmy. They were both members of the Stone Harbor Beach Patrol.
Jim Guntle with his sons Jimmie and Zack, and daughter Alexandra.
Guntle set the stage for the ceremonial ribbing, saying he was voted the most handsome lifeguard. “This one may not be 100% accurate,” he laughs.
Troyan has a whale of a Sea Isle City memory. Ten years after leaving the patrol, the moment still resonates with the Collegeville, Pa., resident, who owns a gym in that area.
“One night after hours, a whale washed up near the edge of the water at 24th Street,” he recalls. “It had to be 20 or 30 feet, I’m not quite sure. A lot of us were there and we huddled around it to make sure it didn’t come any closer. We waited for the tide to go back out and then we all pushed it gently back into the ocean.
“I don’t think a whale is going to wash ashore unless he is injured, and I hear this one died soon after that in Delaware. It was the first time I had ever touched a whale.”
Troyan swam for West Chester University. His teammate, Ryan Weathers, recruited Troyan and a number of West Chester’s swimmers here. Troyan says the lifeguard experience made him more confident about displaying leadership.
“It made me aware of the importance of paying attention and of communication with people,” he says. “While you are guarding, you are in charge of that part of the beach. I became confident about being assertive, letting people know what was going on with the rip currents, not being afraid to communicate that they needed to move or get out of the water, for safety reasons.
“I am thrilled and honored to be part of the Hall of Fame in Sea Isle City.”
Herzog began his Sea Isle City lifeguard journey well before he sat in a chair. He was a mascot, and his peers were in the 4-to-8-year-old range.
Bill Feaster Jr. (stern) at start of the 1985 Kerr Memorials.
He later joined the patrol on the recommendation of his brother Joe, also a SICBP guard. Herzog made friends with, competed against and alongside eventual close buddies Matt McMullin, Matt Sullivan and Ryan Bonner.
“It produced lifelong friendships,” he says.
Herzog illuminates a little-known concept for spectators who follow the major lifeguard races: the intense inner-city competitions that produce representatives at races like the South Jerseys.
“There would sometimes be 45 competitors trying for a couple spots on the surf dash,” says Herzog, now a Pennsylvania-based salesman for equipment used by spine and brain surgeons. “The competitions would be so close. That’s why I was honored to represent Sea Isle City for several years.”
Herzog’s out-of-town highlights included participating in a victory for Sea Isle City at the Beschen-Callahan races and notching several point-yielding efforts in the Tri Resorts. He loves the short races, which resemble the speed one would need to dash into the water in a rescue.
Feaster has maintained a family tradition in reaching the Hall of Fame. His father Bill and uncle Tom Feaster are both Sea Isle City Hall of Fame lifeguards. Bill Jr. gave induction speeches for each of them when they entered the Hall of Fame. Now they know of his.
“It’s very satisfying,” he says. “It will be wonderful to have this day to celebrate with my family.”
Feaster’s father and uncle urged him to compete to join the patrol, and he served from 1980-86. He was a city doubles rowing champion in 1985, second in 1986. He was a top-three finisher multiple times in the patrol’s singles competition. He posted many first- and second-place finishes in surf-dash competitions.
Feaster now is a representative for Stryker Inc., one of the world’s most prominent medical-device firms. But the lifeguard mindset has never left.
“I definitely miss it,” he says. “I can’t sit on the beach today and not continuously look at the water, or look at the jettys and wonder why people are not being whistled off. It’s just a part of my being.”
For many former guards, their beach-patrol tenure is a pleasant but distant memory.
For one October weekend, it will all come back.
