Annual dip nets over $5K for cancer group, baseball team
Lake Santeetlah – Like an attempt to sell ice to an eskimo, good luck convincing the participants that Saturday’s “Polar Plunge” might be the warmest one ever held.
Just as those willing to brave the elements dipped their toes in the water of Lake Santeetlah’s Cheoah Point Beach, the atmospheric temperature was 63 degrees. However, any optimism that the unseasonably warm afternoon had warmed the water was quickly washed away. Shrieks echoed off the shoreline while reality set in: it might have been 63 degrees outside the water, but inside was a different story altogether.
Members of the Robbinsville High School baseball team joined the fray, with most donning their best July-weather swimwear for the occasion. The plunge serves as a fundraiser for both the baseball team and the Graham Cancer Support Group, with the public hosting the ability to nominate participants via a sponsorship.
All told, the effort raised $5,750, which was divided evenly between the Diamond Knights and the support group.
Local Realtor Marty Huskins curried the most favor in sponsorships and after taking the chilly dip, was informed that he was the winner of the coveted “Golden Plunger,” a makeshift trophy that is awarded to the largest individual fundraiser of the event.
Huskins is also a member of the Graham Cancer Support Group.
Saturday’s outdoor elements were a stark contrast to years past. Always held around the first weekend of March, it has not been uncommon for the Fahrenheit scale to register temperatures in the 40s, 30s and even 20s when the plunge occurred.
This led to a fun prank being played on Black Knights baseball coach Brent Icenhower during the 2020 installment, when the weather had a particularly chilly bite. Icenhower had left his truck running – the heat on full blast – with the intention of making a one-way dash from the water to the cab of his vehicle.
Without the aid of a stopwatch, some who witnessed his mad rush to the truck were amazed at how quickly he reached his destination, then were even more impressed with how quickly he dove out, as an unknown jokester had politely slid the fan’s output from heat to A/C.
Even with the weather at perhaps its highest in Polar Plunge history, Mother Nature still managed to get in one last laugh: to coincide with the 63-degree air, a quick breeze whipped across the beach just before participants were set to takeoff – an added twist to help chill those involved to their very bones.