Thousands brave Long Beach polar plunge for Make-A-Wish

Some might question Igor Breger’s sanity after he spent Sunday afternoon frolicking in the frigid Atlantic Ocean at the Long Beach Polar Bears’ 20th annual Super Bowl Splash instead of gorging on pizza and chicken wings like most sensible Americans. 

The matter was settled, however, when somebody yelled “One more time!” and Breger and his friends dashed back into the surf. 

“It means I’m twice the idiot I was before,” Breger, of Brooklyn, said with a laugh as he wrapped a Jets towel around his shoulders. 

An estimated 15,000 people flocked to the Long Beach boardwalk Sunday to participate in the annual Super Bowl plunge, a fundraiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Long Beach Polar Bear leader Mike Bradley said the organization has raised nearly $7 million since 2000 for Make-A-Wish, and expected to raise an additional $500,000 or more at Sunday’s splash. 

“We give families hope,” said Rosemary Conder, chief development officer at Make-A-Wish Metro New York and Western New York. “We give them a sense of community."

The event, Bradley said, is held to honor the memory of Bradley’s son Paul, who died 22 years ago from cancer at the age of 4. Paul died before he was able to receive his wish from the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

One of the kids Make-A-Wish helped was Connor Troy, who died in 2012 at the age of 12 after battling a mitochondrial disease, according to his mother, Kerry Ann Troy of Long Beach. Connor got to go to Disney World four months before he died. 

“It was like someone gave him a magic medicine,” Troy said. “He was happier and healthier that week at Disney World than he had been for a long time." 

Troy created Team Connor in 2014 to raise money for Make-A-Wish and honor her son. Team Connor has raised $60,000 since then and was expected to raise an additional $15,000 Sunday. 

“Nobody does fundraising for a charity better than Long Beach,” Troy said. “When people need help, Long Beach comes out.” 

The temperature in Long Beach was in the mid-40s most of the afternoon, but that felt positively balmy after a February dip in the ocean, Jenna Linville of Long Beach said. 

“It was like an endorphin rush,” said Linville, who attended the splash with her husband, Chris Linville. “It feels a lot better to be out of the water than in the water.”

Breger may live in Brooklyn, but he’s become as much a fixture at the Super Bowl Splash as frostbite and frozen sand. He said he and his buddy Steve Goltsam attended their first splash six years ago and have come back every year since, always bringing along more and more friends. This year Breger and Goltsam brought along about a dozen friends, a loud, boisterous group that seemed to having a blast despite a cold, cutting wind. 

“Every time we come here, we donate,” Breger said. “It’s exhilarating and it's for a good cause.”