California's First Beach Boy

In 1907, California writer Jack London went to Hawaii and tried surfing for the first time. London met 23-year-old George Freeth on Waikiki Beach, and he was so impressed he wrote up the young athlete for a woman's magazine. He also included a description of the "young god bronzed with sunburn" in a later memoir, The Cruise of the Snark, according to surfline.com,

That flush of fame in Woman's Home Companion brought Freeth to the attention of Henry E. Huntington, the streetcar and railroad magnate cum real estate mogul, rare book collector, and original owner of the Huntington Gardens and Library. Huntington brought Freeth to California as "The Man Who Can Walk on Water."

Specifically, Huntington paid Freeth to promote Redondo Beach--the terminus of one of Huntington's streetcar lines. According to the Memorial Statue of Freeth in Redondo Beach:

THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE CAME HERE ON THE BIG RED CARS TO WATCH THIS ASTOUNDING FEAT. GEORGE WOULD MOUNT HIS BIG 8-FOOT LONG, SOLID WOOD 200 HUNDRED POUND SURF BOARD FAR OUT IN THE SURF. HE WOULD WAIT FOR A SUITABLE WAVE, CATCH IT, AND TO THE AMAZEMENT OF ALL, RIDE ONTO THE BEACH WHILE STANDING UPRIGHT.

Well, that's the story.

According to a piece called "100 Years of Hanging Ten" by Michael Scott Moore, Freeth actually asked London for a letter of introduction, and left for California on his own.

A local paper wrote of Freeth's "surf riding" in Venice Beach in July 1907. Venice Beach was Abbot Kinney's town, with canals and gondolas. Huntington probably considered Kinney a rival. He hired Freeth away from Venice to to attract Ragtime-era day-trippers to Redondo Beach, a town a few miles to the south. Freeth did two exhibitions daily in front of Huntington's Hotel Redondo.

Freeth became Redondo's first lifeguard--actually, he was the first lifeguard in the U.S. He trained other lifeguards and worked both in the ocean and at a saltwater plunge built by Huntington. According to his memorial, Freeth designed the standard torpedo-shaped rescue buoys that all those Baywatch babes carried as they ran into the waves. Furthermore:

"ON DECEMBER 16, 1908 DURING A VIOLENT SOUTH BAY STORM, GEORGE RESCUED 6 JAPANESE FISHERMAN FROM A CAPSIZED BOAT. FOR HIS VALOR HE RECEIVED "THE UNITED STATES LIFESAVING CORPS GOLD MEDAL."

AND a Congressional Medal of Honor, according to many sites. But since that honor is a military one, I think the claim is mistaken.

Freeth died in San Diego on April 7, 1919 after contracting influenza. And just a few days ago, the city of Redondo Beach changed the name of Harbor Drive, which runs right along the beach, to George Freeth Way.

How could the flu kill such a strong man?

1918-1919 was the year of the Spanish flu pandemic that claimed at least 20 million lives, and probably twice that amount. Young people with healthy immune systems were the main victims; recent studies indicate that the flu forced their immune systems into overdrive, literally filling their lungs with fluid.