To say that the entire town turned out for John Ryan Sr.’s surprise 90th birthday party at the St. Luke’s parish hall Saturday may be a bit of an exaggeration. Say half the town then.
Asked if there were about 300 well-wishers there that afternoon, John Ryan Jr., who organized the celebration, said, “At least . . . everyone we sent emailed invitations to and then the word spread.”
John Ryan Jr.’s daughter, Haley Cinque, undoubtedly would have been there too, but on the eve of her grandfather’s birthday she gave birth at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital to a daughter, named Nova, the elder Ryan’s fourth great-grandchild.
You could be forgiven for gate-crashing a party to honor Big John Ryan, the guru of lifeguarding here, and a “force of nature,” in the words of Ross Kauffman, the Academy Award-winning director who six years ago put the finishing touches to Mae Mougin’s
40-minute “Waterproof” lifeguard-centered documentary “about saving lives and what it takes in the way of community bonding to achieve that.”
The father of nine (eight of whom became certified ocean guards), grandfather of two dozen, and as mentioned above, great-grandfather of four, the honoree, who apparently knew something was up, wore a cap that read, “It Took 90 Years To Look This Good,” and a light blue sweatshirt on which was emblazoned “Blessed By God For 90 Years.”
In addressing the throng — he was to lead them later in spiritedly singing “God Bless America” — Ryan said he was indeed “a lifeguard for life,” since the age of 16, when he began watching the beaches in Long Beach, his and his wife, Pat’s, hometown.
He may owe it to his name that he came out east — first to Westhampton, then to East Hampton. After graduating from St. John’s University, where
he played on Joe Lapchick’s 1959 N.I.T. championship basketball team, he lost out on a teaching job in Long Beach — because, he was to learn 20 years later, the assistant principal, John Ryan, didn’t want another John Ryan on the staff.
An East Hampton Village Board proclamation that the imposing, garrulous nonagenarian received Saturday from Mayor Jerry Larsen cited Ryan’s myriad contributions to life here.
“The Village of East Hampton hereby recognizes and honors John (Big John) Ryan Sr. for his extraordinary lifetime of service, leadership, and unwavering dedication to the betterment of our community,” it read.
It noted his 28-year mathematics and computer science teaching career here, and his having served more than 28 years on the East Hampton School Board. It also cited the 35 years during which he’d overseen East Hampton’s lifeguard and junior lifeguard training, “significantly enhancing water safety in the region”; his co-founding 30 years ago of the Hampton Lifeguard Association; the 38 years in which he’d managed the Amagansett Beach Association; the 25 years in which he’d helped develop
and manage the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter, its Aquatics Center in particular, and the more than 34 years he had served as an emergency medical technician and driver for the East Hampton Ambulance Association, responding to 2,537 calls, a number exceeded only by his wife.
Attesting to his “commitment to waterproofing our township,” Lifeguard Stand One at Main Beach will hereafter be named for Big John Ryan, the mayor said in handing the indomitable Ryan the framed proclamation.
As for “waterproofing,” the recipient has said concerning the term, “I want every kid by the age of 9 on the South Fork to be able to tread water for five minutes in the deep end of a pool.”
And he has also said that “America is probably the best country to live in in the world, in America a pretty good place to live is in the Hamptons, and if you’re in the Hamptons you naturally want to be on the beach. And look at us — we get paid to be on the beach. . . . To have that opportunity to work on the finest beaches in the world and to be paid for it . . . absolutely, I feel blessed.”