Health & Fitness
OCBP History: Captain Thomas A. Williams Retires
Williams was captain from 1942 to 1962, when the OCBP won a record nine South Jersey championships.
An article on the front page of the Ocean City Sentinel-Ledger 50 years ago reported the end of an era for the Ocean City Beach Patrol.
The April 5, 1962 issue of the newspaper reported Captain Thomas A. Williams was retiring after 40 years of service in the lifesaving profession.
He grew up on the beach under the watchful eye of his uncle, Alfred R. Smith, who was the captain of the lifeguards from 1910 to 1920. Williams, a 1924 graduate of Ocean City High School, joined the patrol in 1922. He was appointed captain in 1942, a position he held for 20 years. No one drowned during his tenure (as in the rest of the beach patrol's history), and the OCBP won a record nine South Jersey championships.
Find out what's happening in Ocean Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
He was inducted into the OCBP Hall of Fame in 1976.
