Runaway Wolf: Erich Leaves Foes in Dust to Win South Jersey Singles Row

Deja vu embraces the Wolf lifeguard family.

It’s been six years, a relative blink of an eye, since Erich Wolf notched an electrifying rowing victory on area lifeguard racing’s biggest stage. Wolf’s first South Jerseys championship for the Avalon Beach Patrol was what his father and patrol captain Murray Wolf termed, “a great moment for us.” Another moment, one that was never in doubt, has ensued. Erich romped at the 2017 South Jerseys, dominating a talented field of rowers to prevail by 10 seconds at the collection of the area’s elite rowing and swimming competitors in Longport.

Wolf propelled Avalon to a tie for second in the overall team scoring behind the host team, which won for the second straight year. Avalon was assigned third via the tiebreaker system for this lifeguard summit, which dates back to 1924 and assembles all 15 patrols from Brigantine to Cape May. Erich’s brother Matt teamed with Jake Enright to provide Avalon a third-place finish in the doubles row. The team secured eight points via its rowers.

Erich capped the evening with his wire-to-wire singles triumph. Unlike the first South Jerseys victory, packed with drama in the homestretch and a fairly tight finish, Wolf took the early lead and won handily. As usual, dad steered him through an accurate course from onshore. And, as usual, the patrol mobbed its leader, who has not only prevailed in singles races but often won at singles and doubles competitions in the same night.

For Erich Wolf, the season’s ultimate singles prize was gratifying but not surprising.

“The feeling was a little different this time,” he says. “The first time you win that race, it’s incredible, your head is spinning, you can hardly believe it. This time it was also fantastic and I don’t know if you could say it is anticlimactic, but once you have won this, you expect to win again. It would have been a disappointment if I didn’t. All the races that led up to this had sort of indicated to me that I was getting stronger, and if I could only make sure I got that good start ...”

Ah, the perilous start. Wolf has experienced a potpourri of ocean luck throughout his South Jerseys career. In 2012, water entered the boat early, curtailing his race. Two years ago, he barely cleared an early wave and managed to hit stride. That enabled him to engage in, and survive a thrilling photo finish to take third place and clinched Avalon’s first team title in 23 years.

On this occasion, the singles row was literally over from the start. A strong rower with an early lead can manage from out front, Wolf indicates.

“It’s very difficult to row from behind,” he says. “In cross country, you can hang behind the leaders and try to pass them at the wire. With rowing, you see your entire competition in front of you. Once you are ahead, if someone is trying to make a move, you can counter that by picking up your own rate. I was just able to build on the lead.”

Wolf has won all the majors, as he terms them, including the Atlantic City Classic, the Dutch Hoffmans, the Margate Memorials and the South Jerseys. He’s also led Avalon to seven straight Kerr Memorial victories. It would be easy to take Wolf’s accomplishments for granted over the past decade. He’s a machine.

“Erich has been a major factor in all of his races for a long time,” Murray Wolf says. “You always expect him to do well.”

The accomplishments look larger now, as he prepared to turn 32 on Aug. 27. Wolf has practically defied life gravity. He is a teacher of physical education and a baseball coach at the Atlantic County Institute of Technology. Wolf also is a student who recently earned a master’s degree in educational administration from Seton Hall University. Given that type of professional advancement, and responsibility, something is supposed to suffer. That’s often one’s role as a top athlete.

Yet in the year he got his master’s, Wolf was a master on water. He looked more powerful by the week, and the ocean, for all intents and purposes, was his classroom.

Perhaps no one appreciates that more than the patrol captain, who has seen the family’s athletic album filled via the journey of his sons. Matt, Erich and Tyler progressed through the time of the rubber life rafts at age 6, row boats in the bay a few years later and the full advancement to the 17-foot, 2-inch lifeboat. They have been rowing since youth, while also branching into other sports. Football, baseball, wrestling and track became Wolf brothers’ staples (Matt still coaches football and wrestling at Middle Township High School). All three brothers remain vital to the beach patrol, with Erich and Matt producing rowing victories and Tyler serving as paramedic.

Murray Wolf has “steered me for every single race I’ve ever rowed in,” Erich says. As he pulls away from the beach on the outbound leg, facing the shore, Erich spots the flag held by his father to indicate course conditions. After making the turn, a competitor can view the entire field himself. For Erich’s second South Jerseys win, Murray knew the issue was in hand early. Erich had no traffic issues and was ready.

“How does he do it? Well, he rides his bike down here at 7:30am until we start work,” Murray Wolf says. “He heads down to the water and rows by himself in the ocean. He works real hard and then swims for half-hour a day and uses the weights. Conditioning is 365 days a year for him, and during the summer, you can see him getting stronger all the time.”

He marveled at Erich’s achievement through the eyes of father and captain.

“In 2011, that was kind of like we broke through,” Murray says of Erich’s first South Jerseys victory. “It kind of took the monkey off MY back. I competed for several years and the South Jerseys is always the one that I wanted to win but didn’t. It was a great feeling when Erich did that the first time. For the second time, I kind of expected it once he got off to that good start.”

While Erich made it look easy, he has “smelled the roses” to savor this victory. He praised teammates and the entire Avalon government administration, for providing boats he considered second to none. They’re equally proud of how he rowed one.