Was It Just Stupid Lifeguard Tricks? : 11 Workers in Hot Water Over Appearance on David Letterman Show

The top competitive lifeguard in the United States has been suspended from duty and 10 of his compatriots have been officially reprimanded for appearing on the David Letterman show. Their crime: Delivering a top 10 list of lifeguard pickup lines such as, “Coast Guard regulations--Miss, I have to inspect you for sand mites.”

What began as a lighthearted romp for about $168 apiece after taxes has instead left the lifeguards with a record for allegedly “inexcusable” behavior that “degraded and tarnished” their profession, according to reprimands from the Los Angeles County lifeguard service.

The outgoing chief of the county lifeguard agency went so far as to tell his employees that their off-color performance, delivered in uniform on the sands of Venice Beach, had “set back the reputation of lifeguards 50 years.”

But the 11 lifeguards who were disciplined (one of the performers was edited out of the final top 10) after their performance on “The Late Show With David Letterman” say they are the ones whose reputations have been besmirched. They have taken to calling themselves “The Letterman 11.”

“Anyone who stays up late at night to watch Letterman realizes it’s just a joke,” said one of those who received a letter of reprimand this week. “You would think we could make fun of ourselves without worrying. But I guess some don’t have enough confidence in themselves to poke a little fun.”

Perhaps the most startling recipient of the punishment is Craig Hummer, 31, who will be banned from his usual tower in Venice for three weeks for acting as ringleader of the late-night appearance.

Hummer has previously been held out by the county agency as a role model and star employee--a keystone in the agency’s assertion that it is the best in the world. For most of this decade, he has dominated national swimming, rowing and running competitions against other lifeguards, bringing dozens of championships home to Los Angeles County.

Hummer, a self-effacing Ohio native, has parlayed his athletic prowess and blond good looks into a budding career as a model, actor and television sports commentator. He is one of about 500 seasonal lifeguards.

“I think some people are very jealous of Craig,” said one lifeguard who asked not to be identified. “There are a lot of people who have spent a lot of years, 40 hours a week and they don’t get the attention.”

Officials in the lifeguard agency said the lifeguards failed to get clearance to appear in their official bathing suits or to pose on the county’s lifeguard trucks and towers.

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But Hummer said he thought that the appearance had been approved. He also noted that the lifeguards made no secret of what they were doing--staging the taping session in front of lifeguard headquarters on the beach in Venice.

Letterman stood aside to let the lifeguards, including four women, each deliver one pickup line. Many of the listings, all written by Letterman’s staff, wouldn’t make your typical family newspaper. Among those that would: “The Red Cross has certified me as a fully trained love machine” and “I want to be with you tonight, even though you are a plastic CPR dummy.”

Former lifeguard Chief Don Rohrer, who retired June 1, said he knew nothing about the program when it first aired in November or when it was replayed this spring. But when he attended a meeting in April of the U.S. Surf Lifesaving Assn. in Florida, he was greeted by some colleagues who had seen the program and were not amused.

Rohrer said Friday that he returned from the national meeting so mad he was briefly considered firings. “We are trying to make this the finest lifeguard service in the world,” Rohrer said. “This did not help.”

But Rohrer, who served 44 years as a lifeguard in Los Angeles, said he does not want to blow the issue out of proportion. “These guys embarrassed dad a little bit,” he said. “One of them got a spanking and the rest couldn’t watch TV for a week.”

Several of the lifeguards said they are not taking their punishments lightly, and may file grievances.

They wondered how the county can justify their punishment when it regularly licenses the television program “Baywatch” to use the county lifeguard seal and replicas of its trucks. “I think any ‘Baywatch’ script does more harm to the image of county lifeguards, with all that T and A, than this thing did,” one lifeguard said.

Hummer said he is willing to accept his three-week suspension without pay, but he objects to an order that he not use his achievements as a county lifeguard to promote himself.

“Who gives them the right to control my life and what I say?” Hummer asked. “Up until this incident, they were perfectly willing to take credit for me being part of the organization.”