Long-ago lifeguard looks back

Elia Powers

To those familiar with Newport Beach history, Al Irwin is a

recognizable name. He has lived his whole life in the city, amassing

stories that span generations.

Irwin, 86, a Navy flight deck officer in World War II, served as a

bouncer from 1938 to 1940 at the well-known Rendezvous Ballroom on

the Balboa Peninsula.

A graduate of Newport Harbor High School’s class of 1936, Irwin

made a name for himself in athletics. He was a standout football

player and returned to the school as a football and aquatics coach

from 1948 to 1955.

His 1949 varsity football team finished 8-1 and is still regarded

as one of the best teams in school history. He went on to coach

football and aquatics at Orange Coast College and coached water polo

at UC Irvine, serving as the Anteaters’ athletic director for a time.

Irwin grew up near the Newport Pier and mastered his swimming

skills as a youth. He said toward the end of the summer of 1932, his

friend, a city lifeguard, requested his help on a rescue mission.

“He had gotten notice of a drowning,” said Irwin, who was 14 at

the time. “I was elected to help out. He put me in a lifeguard boat,

and I rode it out toward Newport Pier. A boat towed me up, and we

helped recover three bodies.

“I wasn’t even old enough to be there,” said Irwin, who was given

$2 for his half day of work.

The next summer, Irwin became a full-time lifeguard, a job that

would help him pay his way through college at the University of the

Pacific. He served as the Newport Beach Lifeguard Captain from 1936

to 1941.

Irwin said he enjoyed most of the time on the job, especially the

chance to meet young people from throughout the region.

But to this day, he still remembers the more unpleasant parts of

the position.

“On weekends, every once in a while around midnight, we’d get a

call telling us that drunks had fallen off the end of the pier,” he

said. “I’d have to pull them to shore.”

Even after he retired from his lifeguard position, Irwin stayed

involved as a volunteer, training new employees through the Red

Cross.

Irwin, who lives with his wife, Lois, still enjoys telling stories

about his time on the water.

Every Thursday morning, he and a group of about 15 Newport Harbor

High School graduates from the late 1930s and early 1940s meet at a

Denny’s in Costa Mesa for a modern-day version of The Breakfast Club.

“Everyone has a story to tell about something they’ve done,” Irwin

said. “We just enjoy being there. We have a corner of the room, and

we chat away.”

* THE GOOD OLD DAYS runs Sundays. Do you know of a person, place

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