Al Irwin, longtime lifeguard and coach, dies at 96 in Newport

Al Irwin, a longtime Newport Beach lifeguard and well-known local coach and trainer, died Monday at his home on the Balboa Peninsula. He was 96.

Irwin’s first experience with ocean rescues came even before he joined the Newport Beach lifeguard team. The beach was Irwin’s playground, since he had grown up in Newport in a one-bedroom apartment above popular watering hole Blackie’s By the Sea.

When he was 15, Irwin was hanging out with a group of lifeguards and friends near the Newport Pier when they were alerted to a swimmer in distress. Irwin helped the group row a dory toward the Santa Ana River jetty, where five young girls were caught in a rip current. Irwin rescued two of the girls.

The following year, 1933, Irwin officially joined the Newport Beach lifeguards and worked every summer until 1941, when he entered the Navy, eventually serving in the South Pacific.

After World War II, Irwin returned to lifeguarding and trained new guards in Newport until the early 1980s.

Marcia Maze, Irwin’s daughter, remembers her father’s integrity and humility.

“The things that were important to him was how you treated people — you never spoke badly about anyone, and you saved your money for everything you ever wanted in life,” she said. “He lived what he taught. He was a simple, humble man even though he received so many awards.”

Irwin graduated from Newport Harbor High School in 1937 as its first four-year, five-sport letterman. He worked his way through his undergraduate education at College of the Pacific in Stockton, where he played football for legendary coach Amos Alonzo Stagg.

Having lost his father as a young boy, Irwin looked to Stagg as a role model. “He was the man who set all of his examples in his life,” Maze said.

Irwin taught and coached at Newport Harbor for eight years and then coached football and swimming at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.

He went on to coach swimming and water polo at UC Irvine, eventually becoming assistant athletic director at UCI. He retired in 1978.

In 2009, Irwin created a scholarship to be awarded annually to a seasonal lifeguard who demonstrates dependability, good character and the ability to improve ocean safety and act as a city ambassador.

In 2013, the Al Irwin Academic Center at UCI was dedicated, and he was inducted into the first class of the Newport Harbor High School Hall of Fame last year.

Irwin had been ill on an off for several years. In the last months of his life, his family moved his bed into the living room so he could see the ocean.

Even in his later years, Irwin was active. He would awaken at 5:30 a.m. to walk the dog and ride his bike. When he could no longer go bicycling, he would walk near his home on the peninsula, chatting with neighbors.

When neighbors learned of his death Monday, they placed candles near his home, south of 18th Street. They have been relighting the wicks since.

“I look at it and think if he planned his memorial, it would be right here sitting in a chair on the beach,” Maze said.

In addition to Maze, Irwin is survived by son-in-law Dave, grandchildren Casey and Carrie, and several great-grandchildren. Services will be held in January.