SLO LIFE Jun/Jul 2017

that stuff. You can come down here. And you can be on my team. But
otherwise it’s all on you.” And I’m like, “Well, that’s unfortunate news
because I don’t know how to finance this.” And so, I make a complete
left hand turn and join the military.
That is a different path, for sure. I join the military for the G.I. Bill.
Take off. First place is Arkansas. And that was kind of a shock. And
then, you get a “dream sheet” after your first year, which is like a wish
list for where you want to be stationed. So, I put down Hawaii, Guam,
the Philippines, anywhere but Arkansas, preferably California. Just
get me to the coast. The last one I put on the list was England. And,
so England it was. And I went to England for three-and-a-half years.
During my time there, I was invited to the United States Air Force
European Swim Team, which I thought was, “Let’s go around to the
other U.S. military bases and compete against other teams.” What we
were doing was traveling to other European countries and competing
against their best teams. I didn’t realize that until we showed up at the
Olympic Training Center in Warendorf, Germany. We’re this scrappy
little crew of Americans going up against Olympians from Europe.
Denmark’s there, Germany’s there, England’s there. It was a great
experience to be in the realm of that level of athleticism, but I could
see that I had taken it as far as it could go. So, when I left the military
I thought, “Where am I going to go next? What am I going to do?”
And so, I saved up enough money to buy a one-way ticket to Hawaii.
I’d never been there before.
Talk about that experience. I disappear to Hawaii. I’m trying to find
my groove there. The ocean was fantastic. Surf was every day. But
finding jobs as a transplant haole is like a three to four-month ride. So,
I started working as a towel boy at the Olukai, and then got a job on
base as a lifeguard at Hickam Air Force Base. And eventually got what
I felt then to be the ideal job working at Duke’s in Waikiki. And so, I
worked there for like four months, and as I was kind of going down that
restaurant route and living in paradise, having this great time. I started
to realize really quickly that my goal of going to college was starting
to disappear down there in paradise. So I go to Kapi’olani Community
College. I say, “Hey, what do I need to do to get in here?” And they
tell me, “Well, you need six more months of residency in order to get
residency tuition, otherwise you’re considered out-of-state.” So I called
up Cuesta, and asked, “What is it going to take for me to get out there?”
And they said, “You can register right now over the phone.”
Okay, so that’s how you made your way to San Luis. Yes, and I went
back to the swim coach and he said, “Hey, you should join my team.”
And I’m like, “Really?” In the back of my head I’m thinking, “You’re the
same guy who I begged for help years ago.” He didn’t remember me.
And so I signed up and became the captain of the Cuesta Swim Team
for two years. And at the end of that second year, I informed him. I said,
“Hey, by the way, I’m that guy from four-and-a-half years ago you never
remembered. You kind of put me in a pinch to go to the military.” But I
thanked him for it and told him it was a long path to get back here, but,
I mean, I thanked him for that amazing experience. It was around this
same time that a friend of mine kept saying, “You’ve got to come be a
lifeguard in Avila.”
Seems like a natural fit for you. What was that like? I was working a
bunch of jobs and needed to finance school, and it just clicked. Later,
when I was at Cal Poly, we decided that we needed a junior guard
program in Avila. This was about 16 years ago now, back in 2001.
There were a few of us and I was the lead instructor, which is still my
role today. Hands down, Junior Guards is the most amazing youth
program in the world. There’s no other program that comes close. You’re
bringing kids out to the beach for five weeks to introduce them to the
components of being a lifeguard. Everything from running down the >>
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JUN/JUL 2017 | SLO LIFE MAGAZINE | 39