The Cannon Family would like to thank the City of Rehoboth (Stan Mills and Sharon Lynn) and Capt. Jeff Giles for supporting and re-awarding the Jeff Cannon Lifesaving Award. On Dec. 1, 1998, Jeff was involved in a fatal car accident in Virginia. Before that, he was a lifeguard from 1969 to 1971, lieutenant from 1972 to 1976, captain from 1977 to 1981. In addition to his leadership with the Rehoboth Beach Patrol, he was captain of University of Delaware’s 1973 football team and a first-team American Football Coaches All-American. Jeff’s career continued briefly in the NFL and WFL. Afterwards, he began his coaching career at Oberlin College, Springfield College, University of Delaware, Swarthmore College, Delaware State College, and James Madison University. Most of all, he was an inclusive leader and accepting of all people.
The award, which began in 2002, was initially listed as the first annual Jeff Cannon Heroic Acts Memorial Award (Jan. 11, 2002, Cape Gazette). Emily Faucett received the initial award. The award reached controversy in a series of editorials during the mid 2000s. The last known award from the Cannon family was Dave Dillehay in 2003. This year the award was reinstated and Alicia Lenoir of Wilmington, and James Kramer of Dover received the award this summer. The two guards gave assistance to a man who was motionless in the water and losing consciousness after striking his head on the bottom of the ocean floor July 6, 2021. Jeff meant a lot to the community and to his family throughout his entire life. Again, the Cannon Family would like to thank the leadership at the Rehoboth Beach Patrol and the City of Rehoboth for this recognition of Jeff.
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