Captain of the Guard
Sea Girt became the first Northern New Jersey squad to have a woman Lifeguard Captain.
Jacquelyn Poland was an All-American swimmer at Furman University in SC when she was selected to supervise the 22 members of the Sea Girt squad. There was a family atmosphere at the beach. Police Chief Joule’s wife, Jackie, was head cashier, and most key beach department employees were raised in Sea Girt.
The long-serving mayor, Thomas Black III, had been celebrated as the only living member of the squad who saved 15 and pulled many more dead from the rough surf, victims of the Morro Castle fire of 1934. The 50th anniversary triggered pride for Sea Girt’s guards. The Beach Patrol had become a tight unit over the past 10 years. A good reason was their commitment to training together.
Women guards are a common site on the Sea Girt beach
Jacque had help. Her younger brother, Jeffrey, captained the Sea Girt Competition squad. The Poland’s grew up in Sea Girt and attended Manasquan HS. Jacqueline studied at Seton Hall Law School, while Jeff was swimming at Clemson. Jeff was a three-time Shore Conference Champion, and the school did not even have a swim team or a coach. He was named an honorable mention All-American by Swimming World Magazine. He became a police officer in Spring Lake, where he had several ocean rescues when people were in the water after lifeguard hours. They and their younger brother James owed their swimming lifestyle and love of the water to their dad John, a Kearney Firefighter and US Marine.
The Beach Patrol owed much of its discipline to Oscar “Bill” Pardini, lifeguard emeritus. He was a bricklayer from Pisa, lived in Neptune, and was a long-time lifeguard captain at Asbury Park in the 1940s. He knew the ocean and was a prolific shoreline fisherman.
Bill trained the Sea Girt squad for ten seasons, and at 74, a year before he died, he competed in the mile ocean swim race for the Garden State Games. When he passed away during the summer of 1984, the full squad came out to mourn him, and they “retired his ashes” during a ceremony at the Sea Girt beach. The King Neptune Lifeguard Tournament in Sea Girt was dedicated to Bill Pardini.
1986 was a busy year of life-saving. Letters of appreciation were received from Greg Jacobsen of Fairlawn, who was saved when his catamaran flipped, tossing him into the ocean, and Barbara Farrell of Wall, whose two-year-old daughter was saved from choking to death.
Jacquelyn Poland Hoagland law firm photo
Jacque took the discipline on the beach and in the water to her personal and professional life. She is a successful attorney primarily in defense of general negligence matters, while always staying close to swimming. She was a nominee for the at-large board positions in USA Swimming, the national governing body for the sport. In her own words, she described her commitment to the sport in 2018:
My name is Jacquelyn Poland Hoagland. I was a swimmer. I am a swimmer. I will always be a swimmer. I am a wife and mother of five. I am a swim parent. I have been a swim coach. I was an ocean lifeguard. I am an attorney. I am a member of the local Board of Education, and I serve as the board’s chair of the policy committee. I am also a member of the negotiation and finance committee for the board. I am a past vice president of the local PTO. I am a member of the charity organization the Central Jersey Spinal Cord Association, and have been a trustee of the non-profit Colts Neck Fair.
Many Sea Girt lifeguards have gone on to lead exemplary lives, shaped by summers at the beach.