Two Galveston Lifesavers

Carmelo "Charles" Bertolino (1887-1960), nicknamed the "Dean of Galveston's Lifeguards," was born in Galveston on September 4, 1887, to Italian immigrants Salvatore Bertolino and Rosalia Trapani Bertolino. He worked as a commercial fisherman and as a baker at Graugnard's Bakery on 13th Street and Avenue L. Reportedly he would swim for five miles in the Gulf of Mexico every morning after waking up. Bertolino married Mabel Cousins (1894-1937) in 1911 and together they had 21 children, including four sets of twins. While never officially employed as a lifeguard with the city of Galveston, he was credited with rescuing 500 people from drowning in Galveston's waters, including during the 1915 hurricane, when he reportedly pulled survivors from floodwaters while riding a boat. His exploits earned him medals from the American Red Cross and a commendation in 1936 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Charles Bertolino, circa 1905. Donald Mark Mize papers on Carmelo Bertolino, MS2006-0012. Rosenberg Library, Galveston, Texas.

Charles Bertolino died on March 8, 1960. Soon after his death, citizens who knew him raised money for a monument to honor him. This monument is located on Broadway and 14th Street. On August 2, 1961, the Texas State Senate passed Resolution No. 54 in his memory, mourning the loss of "a great and good man whose deeds shall long be remembered." On March 10, 1994, the Galveston City Council passed Ordinance 94-14, which added the name "Bertolino's View" to the stretch of 10th Street between Seawall Boulevard and Avenue M. On March 3, 1996, about 100 people, including members of the Bertolino family, gathered at Bertolino's View to dedicate a monument to him erected by the Texas Historical Commission.

Like Bertolino, Peter LeRoy Colombo (1905-1974) was also the child of Italian immigrants, Peter Colombo and Catherine Gaido Colombo, and spent his lifetime patrolling the beaches of Galveston. Born on December 23, 1905, Colombo lost his hearing and partial use of his legs to spinal meningitis when he was 7 years old. Colombo’s brothers worked to rehabilitate him by dragging him up and down the alley behind their house and taking him to the Gulf of Mexico, where he later learned how to swim, until he regained full feeling in his legs.

He went on to work as a volunteer lifeguard who reportedly saved approximately a thousand lives (the 1976 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records recorded 907 people rescued). One of his most renowned rescues occurred on March 13, 1928, when he saved two crew members of the tugboat Propeller from drowning after the Propeller caught fire at Pier 20 at Galveston Harbor. This rescue earned him consideration for the Carnegie Medal for Lifesaving and financial support towards his goal to swim the English Channel.

Colombo was also a pioneering surfer and competitive swimmer. On September 6, 1925, he was victorious in a 10-mile race in the Gulf of Mexico, finishing at a record time of six hours, fifty-five minutes. On September 5, 1927, Colombo won a 15-mile race in the Gulf sponsored by the Surf Toboggan Club, an elite group of volunteer lifeguards that he joined in 1921 at the age of 15. He finished in just eleven and a half hours — three and a half hours ahead of his brother, Cinto. In both races, only one other swimmer finished along with him; the other racers dropped out because of cramps or injury. One of the few races he did not win was in St. Louis, Missouri, on August 21, 1926, where he finished eighth in a 10-mile race in the Mississippi River. Notably, he finished ahead of Johnny Weissmuller, a five-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming who would later star as Tarzan in Hollywood.

LeRoy Colombo swimming. Name Files Photographic Collection, Rosenberg Library, Galveston, Texas.

LeRoy Colombo died on July 12, 1974. Six days later, Galveston City Council passed a resolution grieving his death. The Texas State Senate followed suit with a resolution adopted on April 25, 1975. In December 1974, the city of Galveston and the Noon Optimist Club dedicated a plaque to his memory on 54th Street and Seawall Boulevard. In 2006, the natatorium at the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin, which Colombo attended for several years in his youth, was named in his honor. On May 22, 2008, Galveston City Council voted to add the name "Leroy Colombo's View" to the stretch of 57th Street from Seawall Blvd. to Maco Street. Finally, in 2008 the Texas Historical Commission established and dedicated a historical marker to Colombo, located on 5600 Seawall Blvd.

Trophy awarded to LeRoy Colombo in 1927 by the Hollywood Dinner Club for first place in the Southern Long Distance Swimming Championship, a 15-mile race in the Gulf of Mexico. Museum Object 87.055, Rosenberg Library Museum, Galveston, Texas.

The accomplishments of both Bertolino and Colombo are documented in collections that are available for research at Galveston and Texas History Center, courtesy of Donald Mark Mize (1949-2013), a former Galveston ISD teacher, volunteer fireman, and member of the Galveston Historical Foundation. Mize was heavily active in obtaining landmarks for numerous Texas sites and individuals. His research notes on Bertolino and Colombo were instrumental in the designations of their respective streets and their Texas historical markers. These notes are included in the Donald Mark Mize papers on Carmelo Bertolino (MS2006-0012) and the Leroy Colombo Research Notebook (MS2010-0005).

GTHC also has two scrapbooks containing news clippings, photographs, and correspondence pertaining to Colombo's life and career in the LeRoy Colombo Papers (MS81-0001). A 2013 biography on him by Jean F. Andrews titled High Tides, Low Tides is available in GTHC's book collection. Finally, the trophy that Colombo won during the 1927 race is housed in the Rosenberg Library Museum.