Local Ocean It’s History
Remembering OCBP Olympians By Fred Miller
T
Archie Harris was on the 1940 U. S. Olympic team.
John B. Kelly, center, congratulates Olympic champions Charles Kieffer, left, and his rowing partner Joseph Schauers.
34 OCNJMAGAZINE.COM
JULY 2021
HE OCEAN CITY BEACH PATROL’S tradition of winning intercity rowing and swimming races has its roots in the Olympic Games. Long before the local lifeguards won either a Cape May County or South Jersey championship, OCBP Hall of Famer John B. Kelly Sr. was wearing three Olympic gold medals. Kelly, competing in Antwerp, Belgium on August 18, 1920, won two Olympic sculling races. He narrowly beat Jack Beresford of Great Britain in the singles sculls, and, in partnership with his cousin Paul Costello, easily defeated the Italian crew in the double sculls. Kelly, competing in the 1924 Olympics in Paris, France, won another gold medal in the doubles rowing with Costello. With the support and encouragement of John B. Kelly, Lifeguard Augustus Goetz rowed in the pair-oared shell with coxswain in the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam, Holland. Four years later, Kelly encouraged Charles Kieffer, a championship rower on the Ocean City Beach Patrol, to compete in the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. With Kelly’s support, Kieffer won a gold medal on August 12, 1932. His event – the pair-oared shell with coxswain – had never before been won by an American crew. Kieffer, rowing in the bow, Joseph Schauers,
Steven “Sid” Cassidy will be the head referee at the 10K Marathon Swim at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
