In 1957, a Cal Poly student was killed by a shark in Morro Bay. His body was never found
A family suffered a tragic loss Christmas Eve when Sacramento resident Tomas Butterfield was killed in a shark attack in Morro Bay.
The extended surf community expressed sorrow, though many said they have made peace with venturing to the edge of wild nature.
The ocean is not the only place on the edge. Cougars and bears have been captured within the city limits of San Luis Obispo.
But a shark attack is a viral internet phenomena that is impossible to rationally explain, capturing the public’s attention whenever one occurs.
Human imagination retains stories better than statistics, assigning arbitrary value. For some reason, shark stories are viewed at rates out of proportion with the actual hazard.
San Luis Obispo County has a much higher risk of fatality from heart disease, automobile wreck, drug overdose, cancer, homelessness, shootings, bicycling and house fires to list a few.
More than 350 people have died in the county from COVID-19 since March 2020, a period of 22 only months. But there have been only two fatal shark attacks in the county over last 50 years, three in the last 64.
This is the story from a deadly attack over six decades ago, when a Cal Poly student was killed swimming off Morro Bay.
That Sunday, April 28, 1957, was hot for spring, with a high of 82 in San Luis Obispo. Beaches and parks were packed with people getting out of town. The 25th Poly Royal was called a success, with an estimated attendance of about 22,000.
A group of students, many of whom lived in Morro Bay, decided to go to Atascadero Beach, now renamed Morro Strand State Beach.
Though 35th Street is no longer on maps, it was located one mile north of Morro Rock, roughly at the southern edge of Cloisters Park today.
Newspaper stories at the time often included an address for next of kin so that readers could contact them with a note of sympathy. This reprinting of the April 29, 1957, Telegram-Tribune story omits that and similar details for length.
A Telegram-Tribune follow up story from May 2 said that the body of Peter Savino had not been recovered.
Thanks to Laura Sorvetti at Cal Poly’s Kennedy Library Special Collections for the link to the May 3, 1957, El Mustang student newspaper that said Savino was a freshman architectural engineering student and Army veteran. His age would make him a likely Korean War vet.
CAL POLY STUDENT BELIEVED KILLED BY SHARK: Morro Bay area scene of tragedy
A shark is believed to have attacked and killed a Cal Poly student as he was swimming about a mile north of Morro Bay Sunday afternoon. It was the first tragedy of its kind ever reported along the San Luis Obispo County coast.
Still missing today is Peter Savino, 25, of Brooklyn, N.Y. The Coast Guard had resumed a search for the body this morning.
Details of the attack came from Daniel Hogan, 22, of Vallejo, also a Poly student, who was swimming with Savino at the time.
Strong tide
According to Hogan, “We were swimming off shore when we got carried out to sea by a strong tide. Pete started getting tired. I was trying to get us both back to safety with Pete hanging onto my shoulder, when there was a sudden swirl of water and he disappeared over a wave. I heard him yell, ‘Something big really hit me.’ And saw him raise an arm out of the water that was all bloody. I saw the shark hit him. I said, ‘Come on, let’s get out of here,’ because I knew the blood would bring the shark back. I started swimming toward shore and Pete was right behind me. The next time I glanced back to see how he was doing he was gone.”
Deputy sheriffs Don C. Miller and Henry Karsgard placed the attack at between 300 and 400 yards off shore, about a mile north of Morro Rock. Other youths in the area placed the time of their swim at about 1:30 p.m.
The boys had entered the water from a point at 35th Street on Atascadero Beach.
Questioned closely about the shark, Hogan reiterated that he actually saw the shark. “It boiled up the water around us and it got confused,” he explained, “But I saw the shark. It carried Savino over a wave.”
Big shark seen
His story was substantiated by a visit to the area where the attack occurred by a launch from the Coast Guard cutter Alert. According to the executive officer, James C. Knight, the launch located a shark “as long as our boat.” The launch is 20 feet long. However, when the launch returned to the scene after a quick trip back to the Alert for firearms the shark was gone.
Savino was one of five Cal Poly students and their girlfriends who were spending the afternoon at the beach by the warm sunny weather. Others in the party were Ross Hedrick, 22, Pasadena; Bob Coulson, 23, Upland; and Jerald Frank, 22, Bakersfield.
Frank said he notified Benedict-Rettey Mortuary, Morro Bay, of the tragedy. The funeral home in turn notified the Coast Guard and Sheriff’s Office.
Parents of the victim Mr. and Mrs. Dominic Savino of Brooklyn, N.Y., were notified of their son’s death by James Wilkinson, a resident counselor at Cal Poly.
This story was originally published January 1, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
