Buzz Mogck: A life dedicated to life saving
Denny DeSatnick recalls when a 24-year-old Harry ‘Buzz’ Mogck III returned to Cape May after his military service in 1968. DeSatnick was already a lifeguard with the Cape May Beach Patrol (CMBP) and Mogck was a rookie.
The two quickly gelled and went on to become lifelong friends and fishing buddies. DeSatnick became a teacher and eventually, a successful entrepreneur; Mogck found his passion at the beach, and it was on the beach that he stayed.
Always focused on safety, Mogck, who passed away in June 2024, led by his own example. From the very start, he established a personal standard for professionalism, fitness and training that he demonstrated through a long and storied career.
It was a standard that he exemplified with his personal life and instilled and demanded from all members of the CMBP.
Prior to his 1981 promotion to captain, lifeguards were required to have only a basic knowledge of CPR. After 1981, lifeguards were required to be certified in both lifesaving and CPR, while all officers were expected to earn their qualification as emergency medical technicians (EMTs).
When Mogck joined the CMBP in 1968, it was an all-male force but later, as a captain and eventually chief, Mogck was in a position to guide the CMBP as it changed. Thus, the CMBP hired the city’s first female lifeguard, opening the door for countless qualified women to follow suit.
And qualified has always been the key word. Mogck always insisted that all lifeguards be first and foremost rigorously trained and certified in lifesaving techniques. Secondly, but just as importantly, he required all guards to maintain a high level of physical fitness that was needed to not only do the job but to represent the city in lifeguard competitions.
Another longtime lifeguard, 33-year veteran Bob Cwik, credits Mogck with initiating the oft-dreaded rookie test.
Cwik also recalls how Mogck dispatched guards to local schools to teach students about beach operations and safety. That was part of Mogck’s program that reached out to the local community. It also helped with recruiting new lifeguards for the CMBP.
Thanks to Mogck’s vision and leadership, the CMBP modernized, eventually gaining national recognition with the prestigious U.S. Lifeguarding Association (USLA) and began hosting multiple USLA national lifeguard championships. The culminating achievement in that regard came in 1985 when Mogck led the CMBP to the South Jersey Lifeguard Championship.
He was also instrumental in initiating the Clete Cannone Scholarship, an award presented annually to past and present CMBP lifeguards or their descendents in memory of Cannone.
The most dangerous time on any beach, especially in a resort such as Cape May, is after lifeguards have left for the day. Realizing that, and since he always strove to improve beach access and safety for all users, Mogck instituted an after-hours rescue program.
Mogck was particular.
“At the end of every day, all the lifeboats had to be pointed toward the lighthouse. It was his way of ensuring that they had not been messed with overnight,” Cwik said. “Buzz loved those boats like he loved his guards, and he treated them as if they were his own kids.”
Mogck initiated the supplemental lifeguard tower on Pittsburgh Avenue.
“Buzz insisted that it be positioned so that it was visible from the middle of Pittsburgh. It was probably only important to him, but it had to be just right, and more than once during a preseason we had to move it and make it right,” Cwik said. “Buzz ran a tight ship; he was always buzzing around like a busy bee. According to his mother, that’s exactly how he got that nickname.”
Cwik laughs as he recalls “Buzzy-isms.”
His most famous was “You don’t know what you don’t know.” That was the companion to a sign that he posted in the Grant Street headquarters that read, ‘Makers make a way, losers make excuses.’”
“Buzzy was famous for his expressions, like ‘Are you challenging me?’” Cwik said.
Ralph Atwell, another longtime lifeguard, friend and fishing buddy, had already been on the beach for two years when Mogck joined in 1968.
“We hit it off,” Atwell said. “But we really came together as a rowing team. I always liked rowing surf boats. It’s a real workout. Most of the guys didn’t like it much, but Buzz took right to it. Rowing around the island is still a thing. We became a team and did it for maybe 20 years.”
They had not rowed together for a long time when in 2018 Buzz him to row around Cape May with him for his 75th birthday.
“I couldn’t believe it. Buzz wasn’t in the best of health, and I tried to argue, but you didn’t say no to Buzz — nobody did. He was a tough guy, a strong competitor and so determined. So, we did it. We rowed around the whole island,” Atwell said.
Five years later, Buzz asked him again, this time for his 80th birthday.
Mogck had broken a hip, but they still met Oct. 9 at the Lucky Bones boat ramp.
“He managed to slide into the surfboat and off we went. Not the whole island, mind you. We rowed out into Cape Island Creek, and then came in along Wilson Drive, but he did it. That was Buzz,” Atwell said.
According to those who knew him best, the honor of Mogck’s life was when the city of Cape May renamed Grant Street beach Mogck Beach and dedicated it to him in recognition of his half-century of service to the city and the Cape May Beach Patrol.
Mark Allen is a retired lieutenant colonel with 27 years’ flying experience with the U.S. Marines and Air Force National Guard. The Other Side radio show is broadcast at 1 p.m. Fridays on WCFA-101.5 FM