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Courage under water
The way Cannonball tells it, he was just doing his job, not risking his life to save almost an entire family from a watery doom.
He’s modest like that.
But Cath Lee McKinriy, Cannonball’s wife for the past 20 years, is well aware of the risks involved.
She worries about Paul making rescues, especially because some victims might panic and push down on the lifeguard’s head, turning an already bad situation into a crisis.
So that’s why when a member of the Corps puts their life on the line in order to save another, the U.S. government takes notice. Tiny pins emblazoned with the emblem of the Red Cross recognize those heroic lifeguards.
Surprisingly, the pin on Paul’s lapel isn’t from the 1972 triple near-drowning.
If you were to stop by Cannonball’s house (only two blocks from the beach and about a mile and half from Corps’ station), you’d find the answer in a certificate signed by Richard Nixon.
Dated July 23, 1972, the certificate recognizes another life he saved—a woman who stepped off a sandbar and into a riptide.
And that’s exactly how Paul tells it.
“She stepped off the sandbar and into a riptide, so I swam out there and fetched her,” says Paul, simply, offering no gritty details.
Paul isn’t one to self-promote, even though he churns through the 3.5 mile Meninak Ocean Marathon Swim in Jacksonville every year—not to mention saves lives.
Getting Cannonball to ruminate about his rescues is like asking Robin Williams to calm down for an interview.
He’d rather tell you about his fellow lifeguards: George Haspis, who joined the Corps in the summer of 1950, or George “Coach” Paugh, who earned his Corps stripes in the summer of 1964.
Water-logged heroism
Paul has worked on and off with the Corps throughout his life. His current stint began in 1996, and quitting time doesn’t look to be anywhere in sight.
When Paul is asked why he still does it, he doesn’t talk about the heavy responsibility of saving other people’s lives or the excellent view a lifeguard has over the throngs of bikini-clad hard bodies.
“The quality of the people I work with is very high, especially the kids, and the camaraderie is incredible,” says Cannonball, smiling. “The thing that really tickles me is to be competing with the younger guys.”
“The kids will really kill themselves to beat me,” he observes.
Cath Lee agrees. “Paul is all about the fraternal aspect of it. I’m really proud of him because he’s mentoring younger people, and that fosters a sense of personal responsibility.”
David Stearns, 57, another active elder statesman within the Corps, says the same thing. “There’s something special about the Corps, and you have to work hard for it.”
David likes to think of the Corps as a modern day Knights of the Round Table.
“We save peoples lives,” he says simply. After a few seconds, he says, “Yeah, I like that analogy.”
As correct as David may be, the Cannonball would never in his wildest dreams make such a comparison. For him, it just wouldn’t jive.
But that’s why the description is so fitting.