A VETERAN, A CAUSE AND A CLOSE SHAVE.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

You'd think Sharky Penrod would be used to close shaves by now. He served 15 months as an Army grunt in the jungles of Vietnam in the late '60s, and 21 years as a patrol, narcotics and vice officer for the Los Angeles Police Department.

His whole life has been one, long close shave, but none closer than the one he had Saturday.

"They gave me my last rites, asked if I had any last requests, then they all took a whack at me," Sharky said Monday morning, still looking a little shaken.

His real name's Joe, but no one's called him that since the Army. A drill sergeant took one look at Penrod's face and hung the nickname Sharky on him.

"He said I looked like a guy you might run into at a pool hall or selling racing forms at the track."

Evelyn Swan and a couple of Sharky's buddies at American Legion Post 817 in Panorama City patted their buddy on the back Monday morning, commiserating with him.

"He had the look of a man going to the chair Saturday, even asked for a cigarette," Swan says, counting the loot from Sharky's close shave.

There was more than $1,100 in 5s, 10s and 20s stuck in envelopes collected by members of Post 817 to sponsor a team at the May 13 Revlon Run/Walk For Women to benefit cancer research.

Sharky loved his grizzled gray beard, but he loved the breast cancer patients in Post 817's ladies auxiliary even more.

Cancer had hit the post pretty hard this year, and it was time for Post 817 to hit back. Sharky threw the first punch.

"One night there was a picture laying on the bar of a guy no one recognized," said Swan, who heads up the post's ladies auxiliary.

"It was Sharky without his beard. None of us had ever seen him without it. We got to talking about how much we could raise for cancer research by shaving off Sharky's beard."

The bidding went to $100, then $200, then $300. Pretty soon, there was more than a grand thrown in the pot by people who wanted the chance to give Sharky a close shave.

Sharky smiled and kissed his beard goodbye. He had the time to grow another one. Women battling breast cancer didn't have the luxury of time.

The line leading to the makeshift barber chair set up inside Post 817 snaked all the way out the door by 1 p.m. Saturday.

Sharky took one last drag on his cigarette and walked inside - looking like a man going to the chair.

"Aside from the nick on my left ear and a rash I've developed, it wasn't so bad," Sharky said.

Swan laughed and gave him a hug. If there is one thing that really bugs the head of the Post 817 ladies auxiliary, it's how wrong people can be about what's going on inside these American Legion and VFW posts.

"A lot of people think they're just watering holes for old vets to sit around, drink all day, and tell old war stories," Swan said. "People have no idea of all the good that happens in these places."

She's right. It is a bad rap. I've been in just about every American Legion hall and VFW post in the San Fernando Valley, and you'd have to look long and hard to find people with more compassion in their hearts and activism in their lives.

They raise money for dozens of charitable causes, and are big supporters of educational programs for schoolkids.

Not a day goes by that there isn't a group from an American Legion or VFW post visiting the Sepulveda VA to bring gifts, toiletries and some comfort to their sick comrades.

Like Swan said, all sorts of good things are going on inside these places. Sharky's close shave is just one of them.

dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com

[phone]

To donate to the team that Post 817 is sponsoring through WeSpark for the Revlon Run/Walk for Women, call Evelyn Swan at [phone]. For information on WeSpark, a cancer support center in Sherman Oaks, see www.wespark.org.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Sharky Penrod, before his $1,100 trim.

(2) Sharky Penrod sacrificed his beard to raise $1,100 for cancer research.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer