Lifeguard Reinstated After TV Appearance

After threatening Los Angeles County lifeguard Craig Hummer with suspension for an appearance he made last November on the David Letterman show, the county has reinstated Hummer to his position.

Hummer and 10 colleagues appeared on Letterman in their lifeguard uniforms, delivering a top 10 list of off-color lifeguard pickup lines written by Letterman’s staff. While the county contends that the lifeguards did not receive permission to appear on the show, Hummer says they did. The 31-year-old Hummer, who has dominated swimming, rowing and other competitions against other lifeguards, was notified in June that he would be suspended for three weeks without pay.

The other lifeguards were formally reprimanded, but not suspended. Still, several of the others joined Hummer in filing grievances.

A day before his suspension became effective, Hummer said, he was told that it had been overturned, although a letter of reprimand would be included in his employee file. Randy DeGregori, the county’s acting chief lifeguard, refused to comment. But another official confirmed that Hummer’s suspension had been overturned.

Hummer contends that he was threatened with harsher punishment than the rest because he organized the lifeguards who appeared on the show. But he also called himself “the low man on the totem pole,” saying that he works four or five months a year as a lifeguard, most recently on Venice Beach, while pursuing careers as an actor, model and sports commentator.

Ironically, fallout from the Letterman controversy has Hummer wondering whether he, in fact, will continue to be a lifeguard.

Since news broke that he would be suspended for the incident, he has recounted his story on several television shows and in magazine articles. As a result, Hummer said, fellow lifeguards have ostracized him, accusing him of using the Letterman appearance to further his entertainment career.

“This has been his meal ticket,” said one lifeguard. “He’s painting himself as the wounded martyr. Real lifeguards have nothing but scorn for what he has done.”

The door has been reopened for him to return to duty, but Hummer is not yet back in the watchtower. “It’s hard for me to go back and say all is forgiven,” he said. --MARY MOORE