‘A way of life’: Longtime Hollywood lifeguard retires

HOLLYWOOD — Sometimes the tourists at Hollywood’s beach need some morale boosting to get their feet wet. Are there sharks out there, they’ll nervously ask the lifeguard at Fillmore Street, that shirtless tan guy with a whistle, no shoes and ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice to save their life in an emergency.

“You’re OK,” lifeguard Tommy Dollinger assures them, without answering the question. Go have fun in the ocean.

Sometimes the beachgoers need his help, and come to him “screaming bloody murder” from a jellyfish or Man o’ War sting. Dollinger is ready for them, too, with a spray bottle of white vinegar, comforting words, and of course, a whole lot of gloves on the ready to pull the tentacles out.

But on Friday afternoon, at the end of his shift, Dollinger hung up his red buoy for the last time. Dollinger, 66, retired after a 35-year career with Hollywood; 30 of those years were at this same tower.

“It’s time,” he says, his eyes still scanning the water.

He’s been a lifeguard since he was a high school kid in Cape May, N.J., when he was 16. As each year passed, those glorious summers were squeezed in between winter work — fishing, working as a bartender, substitute teaching — but he longed to do lifeguarding year-round.

Enter a career with Hollywood.

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Dollinger’s territory is about halfway to the next lifeguard stand, so about a quarter-mile in all. “It’s a team effort,” he says of his comrades on both ends who work together to keep the beach free from tragedy.

Over the years he’s worked with lifeguards who love the thrill of the run and the big rescue. But long ago he learned his “best friend” is his whistle to see danger before it hits, and to warn beachgoers. That whistle has kept swimmers out of rip tides, and called attention to parents whose little ones have started to wander without anyone else seeing. He’s soothed the fears of children who appear missing, and three times over his Hollywood career had to perform CPR to swimmers who had a heart attack. (They all lived).

His supervisor, Renata Wolfe, swung by Friday for one last hug.

“He’s an example for us,” she said. “He does the job like the old-timers used to do — very professional. Everyone loves Tommy.”

Dollinger, she said, knows what’s going to happen before it does. And his calmness and kindness has made him a rock star. There are supposed to be 63 lifeguards and the city is still trying to fill 13 of those positions. They seem to be harder to fill; she wonders out loud if younger people are “not as athletic, raised indoors playing video games.”

The job used to be very competitive to get a spot, but that was in the 1990s.

Dollinger has no regrets.

“It’s a way of life,” he said about his chosen career. “It’s hard to explain but a bad day at the beach is better than a good day at the office. The ocean is in my blood.”

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His days start with roll call, with his colleagues who he said seem to keep getting younger. They run for nearly 2 miles on the soft sand before their shifts, capping off with a quarter-mile to half-mile swim in the ocean.

Some of the younger guys look at it as a race “and they battle each other.” Dollinger competes with nobody — but still completes the mission.

Over the years he’s seen the same faces of the locals and the tourists, who keep coming back to his same spot of beach at Fillmore Street. “I’ve seen a lot of kids grow up,” he said.

“I’m going to miss them more than they’re going to miss me,” he laughs and says of the beachgoers.

He points to a group of French Canadian tourists enjoying the sun on Friday afternoon. Each winter they come, setting up just south of his stand, like clockwork.

They don’t speak a lick of English, so everyone just smiles and waves.

“I know they love me,” he says with a grin.

Dollinger will take his whistle with him into retirement, but won’t let go of all of it completely quite yet.

Although he plans a long retirement with lots of travel with his girlfriend and two dogs, he’ll still pop in on the beach for a warmup run with the boys every so often.

And after that, he’ll drag out a chair, open an umbrella on Hollywood’s beach, at Fillmore Street. This time, he’ll put his feet in the air.

“I’ll enjoy the beach,” he pledges, “instead of being in charge of everyone.”

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Twitter @LisaHuriash