Stony Point Seals 25th Anniversary Super Plunge Into The Hudson Sunday

STONY POINT, NY — The Stony Point Seawall is the place to be on Sunday before the big game. That's where more than 200 people will jump into the Hudson River, cheered on by a couple of hundred onlookers, to raise money for two Rockland children with high medical bills.

It's the 25th annual Stony Point Seals Super Plunge.

"You don’t have to go in the water," John Corcoran, one of the founders, told a Patch reporter. "But I guarantee you, if you come down for our 25th anniversary event, you'll come back next year."

Between the swimmers and cheerers, the folks manning the sign-in table and t-shirt sales, the people setting up the music and neighbors dropping off donations, it's a happy and exciting event, he said.

It's not a major production. "There’s no charge. You sign in and jump in," he said.

The plunge started a quarter-century ago, the year after a Super Bowl Sunday afternoon football game at Lowland Park during which one guy dared another to immerse himself.

"Four of us jumped in the water with our shorts on," Corcoran said. "Our wives said, 'If you’re going to do something so stupid why don’t you do it for a good cause?' The next year we raised about $3,000."

Corcoran, Andy Huber, John Fox and Chris Bryceland named the little group The Stony Point Seals and decided to select a child in northern Rockland County with high medical bills, find sponsors and make even more money by getting family members to collect donations and sell hot dogs and sodas on shore.

Last year the event raised about $40,000. Over the years, the group has raised nearly $900,000, he said.

Each year, the community suggests at least one recipient; so far, there have been 38. "The most we've ever helped in a year was three," he said. "It's very hard to say no. And sadly there’s no shortage."

This year, the recipients are Elijah Torres, 5 (learn more here) and Kayden Germosen, 3 (learn more here).

Nowadays other people handle the work of getting permits and sponsors, organizing volunteers and taking donations, he said. "Like anything else our organization has collected awesome people who have taken this event to another level. I do the easy part, I just jump in the water."

It's not just the volunteers but the huge list of sponsors, local officials, emergency services and donors that make it work.

"This is something that’s good about our country, our state, our county," he said. "Our Stony Point Seals organization works because of the generosity of the community."

Corcoran was a newcomer in Rockland County when it started. He grew up in Manhattan — where as a kid he jumped into the Hudson River to swim in the summertime — and where he still works, as a Deputy Chief in the FDNY.

Friends and co-workers from the city have been coming up for the Super Plunge for years, he said. When he was a battalion chief, out of Engine 8 Ladder 2 Battalion 8 for more than 13 years, he said, "the men and women in that firehouse gave us overwhelming support with the raffles and the t-shirts and everything."

This year, he expects more than 50 from the city, from firehouses in the Bronx, Harlem, midtown and downtown, as well as folks from other departments. "It's a tradition. They come up with their families, they jump, and then they go home and get ready for the game. It's a way to say, 'I did something good today.'"

There are lots of ways you can participate too. Go to the event from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday! Even if you don't jump in, buy a t-shirt and a raffle ticket at the event and patronize one of the vendors. Or you can donate online.