Warde's Legendary Football Coach Saved Man from Drowning at Mouth of Ash Creek 45 Years Ago Today

Andrew Warde High School's Hall of Fame football coach came to the rescue of a man who appeared to be drowning in the strong current at the mouth of Ash Creek in Fairfield 45 years ago today, Tuesday, July 30, 1968.

The man, who was about 30 years of age, was saved by Fern Tetreau, the coach of the Warde Eagles' gridders, who happened to be attending a cookout nearby, according to a front-page story in The Bridgeport Telegram. Tetreau, Warde's first football coach, led the team to an undefeated 9-0 campaign in 1959, just three years after the school opened.

Attracted by shouts for help off the jetty at the end of Jennings Beach and opposite St. Mary's by the Sea, Tetreau outraced three fellow physical education instructors in the Fairfield school system and swam to the aid of the man, who was being held by a woman companion. Both the man and woman were about to be swept away by the current toward Long Island Sound.

A short time later, a boat from the Ash Creek boat basin picked up the man while the woman companion swam back to St. Mary's. After being taken to the boat basin, the woman friend drove the man home.

The man told Tetreau he was wading at St. Mary's when he was swept into the water by the strong current. His woman companion managed to keep him afloat until Mr. Tetreau arrived on the scene.

Tetreau was attending a cookout at a cottage at the east end of Jennings Beach as a guest of Robert Seirup, a physical education instructor who conducted swimming classes there in the Summer.

Also present were Emil Taft, the Roger Ludlowe High School football coach, and Bob Jackson, director of physical education in the Fairfield school system.

Paul