What Do Jack Nicholson and Ronald Reagan Have in Common?

July 11, 2005 — -- Ronald Reagan was the 40th president of the United States, the governor of California, a Hollywood actor and a radio sportscaster. Yet in his later years, he repeatedly pointed to his summers as a lifeguard as one of the happiest times of his life.

Even as Alzheimer's swept away his memories of Gorbachev and Iran-Contra, Reagan often told the story of lifeguarding along the shore of the Rock River in Illinois, where legend says he saved 77 lives, putting a notch in a log after each rescue.

There is something about being a lifeguard -- something fun, something about the adrenaline of saving a life, something quintessentially American -- that attracts thousands of people, including many now-famous folks, to the job every year.

The American Red Cross says it certifies about 200,000 lifeguards each year, and the United State Lifesaving Association, an organization of open-water lifeguards, claims 5,000 members.

ABCNews.com heads down to the Jersey Shore to see what it is about the beach that attracts thousands to lifeguard stands year after year. In a series called "By the Boardwalk," we'll look at whether any of the "Baywatch" lifestyle is reality.

We will follow the lifeguards of Bradley Beach, a town at the Shore, where actor Jack Nicholson once worked after graduating high school.

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"He was always a beachgoer; he loved the beach," Lorraine Smith of Neptune, N.J., said of her nephew, Nicholson. "He was a strong swimmer and he just got out of high school. He was only 17 that summer he was a lifeguard."

Nicholson grew up in Neptune and graduated from Manasquan High School in 1954.

Greg Farry, a Bradley Beach lifeguard for 50 years and head guard for 20, was in his second year of lifeguarding when he worked with Nicholson in '54.

"Ironically, he was the shy one of the bunch," Farry said.

Farry recalled he and Nicholson dated twin sisters who waitressed at a restaurant on the boardwalk and they would sometimes go out in Asbury Park, the town immortalized by the songs of Bruce Springsteen and his breakout album, "Greetings from Asbury Park."