SLIPPERY ROCK — When it comes to lifesaving, Robert Ogoreuc literally wrote the book on it.

For this and for his work as a training officer for the Ocean City, N.J., Beach Patrol and fire/rescue services, Ogoreuc, an assistant professor in the Physical Education Department at Slippery Rock University, will be inducted into the beach patrol's Hall of Fame.

Ogoreuc, who also serves as aquatic director for SRU, will accept his award virtually Saturday from his home in Grove City

Ogoreuc said he is being recognized for his eight years with the Ocean City Beach Patrol starting in 2000.

“I'm being recognized for my time with Ocean City as a training officer. I was the first official training officer,” he said.

“My responsibility was train the rookies and the recurrent lifeguards in first aid, CPR training, blood-borne pathogens,” Ogoreuc said.

In addition to training roughly 170 to 180 lifeguards every summer, he also trained 75 professional firefighters in water rescue.

That many lifeguards were needed to keep watch on the eight miles of Ocean City beach.

“It's like being a lifeguard from Slippery Rock to Grove City,” he said.

Ocean City lifeguards manned a unique box stand on the beach that came equipped with a lifeguard boat or a paddle board.

Two to four lifeguards per stand kept watch on their section of beach dealing with water rescues, medical emergencies and lost children.

“It can be mental and physical,” he said of lifeguarding. “Physically, you have to be able to do the job. And you have to stay mentally sharp.

“You are observing, evaluating. You have to know when to go and when to prevent. Sometimes you can prevent people from getting into trouble. I'd tell them 'If you are exhausted at the end of the day, you've done a good job,'” he said.

He also co-developed the New Jersey State Police's open water rescue for first responders course.

This training has been adopted throughout New Jersey and has been awarded the Higgins and Langley Award for flood and swift-water program development.

The award citation stated, “The New Jersey State Police Open Water Rescue Program was initiated when too many law enforcement, fire, and EMS agencies were sending first responders who were unequipped and not properly trained to manage dangerous water rescues, hurricanes and coastal flooding events.”

John Schreiner, a retired New Jersey state trooper, who was one of the people who helped Ogoreuc develop the training program, said the program provided training to more than 1,800 police, fire, EMS, and lifeguard first-responders from more than 100 agencies.

Plus, Ogoreuc noted, the training became vital when Hurricane Sandy came ashore just to the northeast of Atlantic City, N.J., on Oct. 29, 2019.

In addition to his lifeguard training, Ogoreuc worked on the American Red Cross Water Safety Advisory Group as a technical reviewer for its lifeguard manuals.

He co-wrote the second and third editions of the United States Lifeguard Association lifesaving manual. He is the past president of the National Drowning Prevention Alliance, a nonprofit organization created to provide the public with drowning prevention and water safety education and programs.

Jack Brooks, the president of the Ocean City Beach Patrol Lifeguard Alumni Association, said Ogoreuc is being honored for his overall promotion of life guarding and raising of its standards.

Brooks said, “His impact helped raise the standard for the profession.”

Brooks said, “We are very proud to have Bob as a member of our Hall of Fame for his work in the community and college. His time in the beach patrol was a small part, but a lasting part of his life. We like to say, 'Life guards for life.'”

Brooks added Ogoreuc will receive a plaque and a second plaque will be installed at Ocean City's Bayside Center which is where the physical Hall of Fame is located.

Schreiner said he probably will click in to Saturday's remote induction ceremony.

“I will probably attend, although I will be disappointed that Bob won't be able to come down in person,” said Schreiner. “He's a great guy.”

For a man who made water his career, Ogoreuc said he was a late-blooming swimmer who credits the fact that his parents' house was near the Indiana University of Pennsylvania's pool.

“I started in eighth grade which is kind of unusual,” he said, but didn't let the late start didn't stop him from competing on the Indiana High School and IUP swim teams.

After graduating from IUP with a degree in education in health and physical education with an emphasis in aquatic administration in 1989, he came to Slippery Rock as a graduate assistant and assistant swim coach.

He holds numerous certifications such as: American Red Cross, lifeguard instructor trainer and open water scuba instructor.

He said his wife, Shelly, and his two children, Hannah and Jack, also have an affinity for water, if in a different form.

“My daughter's a figure skater. She likes frozen water. My son plays hockey,” he said.