Oh, Danny Boy!

Highlights of the Lifeguard Racing Season

Danny Rogers claims the Sea Isle City Beach Patrol’s first South Jersey Lifeguard Championship in 55 years and the patrol’s first-ever singles rowing championship.

Two forms of accomplishment – one constant and one rare – marked significant 2021 seasons for the Sea Isle City and Upper Township beach patrols.

The constant was Upper Township raising nearly $4,000 for MS research with its annual Six-Mile Bay Race in July. Started 30 years ago by patrol captain Bill Handley, it has generated more than $150,000 and been a popular event involving the participation of several area patrols.

The rare unfolded for Sea Isle City at the South Jerseys, the Super Bowl of area lifeguard racing events in mid-August. That’s where Danny Rogers captured the first singles rowing title in the history of the SICBP.

Sea Isle City thus hit the winner’s circle in a storied race dating back to 1924. It’s a stern test, assembling all 15 beach patrols from Brigantine to Cape May. Victory, in the minds of the winners, lasts a lifetime.

Rogers also partnered with Pat Scannapieco for second in the doubles, giving Sea Isle City a strong second-place team performance behind host Longport, which won its fifth straight crown.

Euphoria soon surfaced around Sea Isle City beach patrol headquarters.

“We are very proud and excited,” chief Renny Steele said the following morning. “The phone has been ringing off the hook today from former guards, telling us how proud they are to be a Sea Isle City alumnus.

SICBP teammates help Rogers celebrate his South Jersey Championship in Longport on Aug. 13.

“I told the young guards today that they may not realize the gift Danny and Pat gave them. I am sure they think this happens every year.”

Yet this was Sea Isle City’s first individual South Jerseys championship since 1966. That’s when swimmer Bill Milton broke the five-year winning streak of Ocean City’s Dick Thieler.

Rogers quickly became aware of that significance.

“I really got a sense of it one day later,” he said. “I started getting texts from people I have never met. It was cool, they would say, ‘Danny this is Joe so-and-so, congrats, this was awesome, good luck.’”

The congratulatory circuit began one day after Rogers’ victory, which culminated in a blur.

Just hours earlier, on the Longport beach, he had been engulfed by jubilant teammates, who lifted the boat in a sign of triumph. Rogers was swept off as a conquering hero, the 19-year-old finishing with a bang before heading off to start classes at the University of Miami.

Rogers had also done the ironman feat, rowing doubles and singles in the same night, sandwiched around a break of about 20 minutes for the swim.

Although the task is excruciating, Rogers said the doubles race eliminated jitters for the singles and it made him feel comfortable with the course.

Late in the singles event, he finally knew he had the victory. That was underscored moments later, when he hit the finish line and saw a familiar face.

“I could hear Pat yelling from the beach halfway through the return part of the trip,” Rogers said. “And then he was the first one to congratulate me. It was cool. He is like a brother to me.”

Their tie is a strong one.

Five years ago, Rogers enrolled in Sea Isle City’s Junior Lifeguard program. Scannapieco was assigned to teach him basics of putting the blades in the water, keeping his back straight and getting a feel for the ocean. Year by year, Rogers grew both physically and intellectually.

Something told Scannapieco, and the patrol’s administration, to keep an eye on Rogers.

Pat Scannapieco and Danny Rogers claim second place in the doubles race of the South Jersey Championships on Aug. 13.

Besides his athleticism, Scannapieco liked Rogers for a unique second reason.

“He had a T-shirt on that said ‘St. Dorothy’s,’ ” Scannapieco said. “That’s the grade school we both went to in Drexel Hill, Pa.”

As Rogers advanced through the patrol, Scannapieco became his partner. This became their magic third season together, when, if doubles tandems are meant to click, they will.

Rogers and Scannapieco placed in every event this summer. And as their training intensified, Scannapieco’s mentoring took a new angle.

That’s one of Steele’s favorite parts of this story. Scannapieco had sacrificed his singles ambitions to coach Rogers and then concentrate on doubles himself. Combined, they tallied all nine of Sea Isle’s South Jersey points.

“This is great for both of them and it’s a feather in Pat’s cap,” Steele said. “As Danny got bigger and filled out [he’s 6-foot-4, 210 pounds now], Pat said, ‘Let’s concentrate on Danny being the singles rower.’ He was working with Danny, and he was starting to see how good Danny could be.

“Pat made the sacrifice. He said, ‘I’m not going to get in Danny’s way.’ ”

And the team prospered by having strength in two events. Halfway through the season, Scannapieco and Rogers were right in the mix with the most talented of the 15 South Jersey patrol rowing crews.

They didn’t taper off their workouts, essentially pointing toward the South Jerseys, where they gave their best performance. The script could not have been set up any better.

“I can’t wait until next year,” Rogers said. “I plan to be back.”

Sea Isle City will have a lot to look forward to next summer.

Eve Chiarello in the bow and Brooke Handley in the stern during the Longport Women’s Invitational earlier this summer.

UPPER TOWNSHIP

“It was good to have a normal summer,” Bill Handley said. “It was nice not only to have competition, but to raise money for a good cause with the Bay Race. We met a lot of supporters. Many of us have met people along the way who are suffering with MS, and to have a race that raises money to combat it is a good thing.”

Handley’s daughter Brooke was one of the team’s standouts. Not long ago, she was competing in the Bay Race alongside her father. Now, the recent Stockton graduate is excelling at it. Handley teamed with Eve Chiarello to win the women’s division of the Six-Mile Bay Race.

Handley and Chiarello also finished third at the Ventnor and fourth in the Longport competitions.

Bill Handley cited the surf-dash team of Chiarello, Mackenzie Blake, Grace Steele and Casey McClees as having excellent seasons.

It could be the end of an era, meanwhile, in the men’s doubles rowing circles.

Ryan Fisher and Kyle Rumaker, “the best doubles crew we’ve ever had,” according to Handley, will be moving on to professional lives. They were a force for the last several years in the Beschen-Callahan and Cape May County races.

Upper Township also announced its first-ever Hall of Fame inductees. The ceremony will take place Sept. 24 at the Deauville Inn.

The honorees are Mike DuBruille, Dean Ferguson, Liz Millar, Mike Manning, Kevin Gill and Dan Palombo. Besides serving with distinction, many represented Upper Township in out-of-town races.

Gill won the swim for Upper Township in the 2014 South Jerseys. Palombo authored a singles-row championship there in 2013. That victory, combined with Gill’s third-place finish in the swim, propelled Upper Township into a first-place team deadlock with Ocean City, which prevailed on a tiebreaker.