Peter Leroy Colombo
Galveston, Galveston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(December 23, 1905-July 12, 1974)Born in Galveston, Peter Leroy Colombo overcame disabilities to become a highly accomplished lifeguard. Born in 1905, Colombo lost his hearing, speech and use of his legs at the age of seven, due to meningitis. His brothers took him to the Texas coast where he swam, regaining use of his legs, though his hearing never returned. In 1915, Colombo began to attend the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin, where he learned to read lips and communicate in sign language, and where he also continued to train in swimming. He returned to Galveston in 1921 and soon joined the Surf Toboggan Club, a group of volunteer lifeguards.Colombo became a hired lifeguard at the age of 18. In a time of segregation, he would go on to save hundreds from drowning, regardless of race, over a career spanning approximately 50 years. In addition, Colombo set many endurance and speed records in swimming matches, often participating in races that were up to 30 miles long. He was also a pioneer surfer on the Galveston beaches.Colombo officially retired in 1967, but continued to swim and serve as a lifguard when he was able. When Peter Leroy Colombo died in 1974, he was recognized with a moment of silence by the Texas State Legislature. He had officially saved over 900 people from drowning, with many other rescues going unrecorded. In 2005, the natatorium at the Texas School for the Deaf was named in his honor. Today, Peter Leroy Colombo is remembered as an individual who did not allow disabilites to limit him, risking his life to rescue hundreds along the beaches of Galveston. (2008)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Peter Leroy Colombo was born in Galveston in 1905 and, at age seven, lost his hearing, speech, and the use of his legs to meningitis. Swimming in the Gulf surf helped him walk again, and after training at the Texas School for the Deaf he returned home to become one of the island's most celebrated lifeguards. Over a roughly 50-year career he officially saved more than 900 people—regardless of race, in an era of strict segregation—set long-distance swimming records, and pioneered surfing on Galveston's beaches. When he died in 1974, the Texas Legislature paused for a moment of silence.
Why it matters
Colombo's life defied both the limits others placed on the disabled and the color lines of his era—he risked himself for every swimmer in the water, a quietly radical equality on a segregated Texas beach.
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