(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 – Mike McGuirk was a guard and crew chief from 1969 to 1972 for the Ocean City Beach Patrol.
He started on 7th Street and finished his beach patrol career as a crew chief on 16th Street. While Mike’s summers were spent in Ocean City, his school years were in Greenville, N.C., playing football and studying for his business degree at East Carolina University. Along with the Ocean City history that Mike made as a member of the beach patrol, he also played a part in football history.
In 1970 Mike was a starting defensive end for East Carolina when ECU played Marshall University. ECU won the game, but the exhilaration of victory was short-lived. The flight returning the Marshall players and coaches to Huntington, W.Va. crashed and all 37 souls on board were lost. The movie, “We are Marshall,” recounts the event and the heroic effort of Marshall to rebuild the football program after the tragedy. Mike and his wife, Victoria, will be in attendance when the event is commemorated the weekend of Sept.18-19 at Marshall in Huntington, W.Va.
Mike also contributed to a little bit of Ocean City football history. While on the beach patrol, Mike was a founder of the Ocean City Midnight Football League. A group that organized and played games between midnight and 3 a.m. on a poorly lighted vacant lot on 67th Street. Many of the bars and restaurants in Ocean City as well as the Assateague Island Beach Patrol fielded teams.
After his time in Ocean City, Mike continued both his participation and contribution to football and the beach patrol. Mike married his Ocean City sweetheart Victoria (Vic), a Phillips girl, and moved to Port Orange, Fla. In addition to a demanding position with Computer Sciences Corporation managing one of the Space Shuttle firing rooms, he founded the Port Orange Pop Warner football league. After retiring from his day job at the Space Center, he coached football at one of the local high schools for several years.
Over the years, Mike maintained contact with his Ocean City friends and fellow beach patrol alumni including Captains Bob Craig and George Schoepf. Mike even made contact with the legendary Lucky Jordan, who was living near him in Titusville, Fla. and brought him up to Ocean City for several beach patrol events including Captain Craig’s memorial and the annual Captain George Schoepf run/swim relay. Mike actually painted, strung and donated the old-style metal buoy used in the relay.
During the years since his time in Ocean City, Mike and Victoria dealt with personal tragedy. Their son, Matt, who was struggling with addiction, passed away from a drug overdose. As they had demonstrated with the beach patrol and football communities of which they were a part, they overcame their grief and instead made a positive contribution by starting a foundation. The foundation has provided help and counseling to many young people in situations similar to Matt’s.
Mike and Vic continue to visit Ocean City annually for the Captain Schoepf relay and contribute to the Ocean City community whenever they see an opportunity.