(Editor’s Note: The following is a series on the men and women who have spent their summers protecting all those who came to Ocean City for fun and safe vacation.)
OCEAN CITY — Greg Pittman did not start his adventures with the Ocean City Beach Patrol like most other guards. He first came to Ocean City in the winter, and he came to paint houses. It was 1971 when he and his two high school friends, Mark and Chris King from Pasadena, started coming to the beach on weekends to paint the interiors of townhouses. The three were able to save up enough money to come to OC full time when summer finally arrived. Mark and Chris King got jobs guarding at the Royal Palm pool on 12th Street, but Pittman had heard the OCBP was still in need of new recruits. It seemed like a better offer so he took the test and passed. His roommates followed him onto the patrol the next week and the summer adventure had begun.
Pittman had no idea then, that it would last for the next decade or the impact it would have on the patrol.
Everyone who works on the OCBP has their fair share of stories. Pittman is no exception, recalling how he “participated in many rescues and what the beach patrol calls UR’s or urgent situations. I had to give CPR a couple of times and saw many cuts, broken bones, backs, and necks.” But more than just the rescues every guard on the patrol experiences, he recalls most the turning points in his life and in the evolution of the OCBP.
Pittman had risen through the ranks of the patrol, going from guard to crew chief to officer. He became a sergeant in 1978, and among his responsibilities was the testing of new recruits. Most notably, he had to give new guards the much feared “pool test, a test of the ability to break strangle holds and to get a struggling victim into a cross chest carry,” he recalled. It was his job to make sure that every person who went into that pool to struggle with a panicked victim, was ready to go out on the beach the next day. That included testing Susan Caine, the first female guard in OCBP history.
By 1980, the OCBP had been operating in roughly the same way for over 40 years. Guards were on the stands and officers patrolled either the Boardwalk or the beach behind them to oversee and assist. Pittman believed there could be an additional layer of protection. Motorized inflatable boats were coming into use by other patrols around the country. Pittman was able to demonstrate to both Captain Craig and Assistant Captain Schoepf how with protective shields on the propellers, these ocean crafts could be used in actual water rescues. The demonstration was a success and the new “Zodiacs” (as they were called) were introducedl.
But one of the biggest innovations that Pittman was able to help usher into the patrol, would take several years before the end result.
“I introduced the current OCBP Captain, Butch Arbin to the beach patrol back in the early 70’s,” he recalled. “Our fathers worked together and Butch would visit our house back then. I would tell him about the beach patrol and the test you had to pass to get hired. I didn’t realize back then it had made that much of an impression on him. Fifty years later, he is still there doing a great job!”
With full time job offers and “real life” calling, Pittman left the OCBP after 1981. But the one thing he’s most grateful to the patrol for is “responsibility.” Personal responsibility as a young person working a full-time job and for many being on their own for the first time without parents around to tell them what to do. I couldn’t think of a better organization than the Ocean City Beach Patrol to provide that stepping stone.”
Pittman retired from a career in Information Systems and currently lives in Annapolis. He still spends almost every day out on the water, paddle boarding on the Severn River.