26th Annual
Polar Bear
Plunge
Let’s get ready to plunge
with Middlesex County Sheriff s
Dressed as Nature Boy Ric Flair, Middlesex County Sheriff’s
Local 165 member Christopher Vance walked along Sherman
Avenue in Seaside Heights imploring everybody to “snap into
a Slim Jim.” He admitted that fellow Local 165 member Vinnie
Maglione, dressed as Sting in his black-and-white face paint,
“scared the s--- out of me.”
Nature Boy and Sting were surrounded by Hulk Hogan,
Goldust, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mankind (in his leather
mask), The Undertaker, Macho Man Randy Savage, The Iron
Sheik, The Ultimate Warrior and one of the guys from the Le-
gion of Doom.
Clearly, Middlesex County Sheriffs had turned the 2019 Po-
lar Bear Plunge into WrestleMania.
“Every year, we do a theme,” Vance explained. “We had
rompers last year. We did Speedos the year before. We pick
a random category, and then all our wrestlers this year were
picked randomly. You couldn’t pick your own. It’s more fun
that way.”
Local 165 members began preparing for the wrestlers
theme three months before plunge mania, and the details of
the costumes showed the dedication. Vance wore a belt filled
with Slim Jims. Accessories like Goldust’s blonde hair and the
Legion of Doom’s spiked shoulder pads resulted from what
Vance described as “having a great time for a great cause.”
And then there was the makeup. Maglione shared that his
wife did his in between feedings of their new baby. He didn’t
worry about the face he put on scaring kids. In fact, he broke
character – Sting never speaks in the ring – to relate how
dressing up augmented such a great day.
“I don’t want to scare any kids, but hopefully, there’s some
little Sting fans out there and I can inspire them,” Maglione
quipped. “Dude, the Special Olympics is awesome. When you
see what they do there, it’s all worth the solicitation of the do-
nations
and us coming here and jumping in the water.
It is nothing compared to what they do.”
When dressed in rompers or Speed-
os, it’s hard for sheriff’s officers to radiate
toughness. But Vance mused how wrestlers
are even tougher than law enforcement
officers. And in rompers and Speedos, they
had to worry about one aspect of the plunge
that did not
Mankind affect them
in their wres-
tling garb.
“You don’t even know it’s cold out here,” Vance continued.
“There’s nothing bad about it. It’s a great cause and everyone
comes together for one reason. You’re surrounded by some
great people.”
With that, Vance snapped off a Slim Jim and related how he
was headed to the beach. He led members into the ocean car-
rying the Local 165 flag, a Thin Blue Line flag and what was left
of the Slim Jims.
“We’re united together,” he proclaimed.
Ric Flair
Sting
Legion of
Doom
Ultimate Warrior
www.njcopsmagazine.com
■ MARCH 2019 57