George Freeth

George Freeth, born in Honolulu on November 8, 1883, of royal Hawaiian and Irish ancestry, revived the lost Polynesian art of surfing while standing on a board. Henry H. Huntington, impressed by Freeth's surfing and swimming abilities, brought him to Redondo Beach in 1907 to help promote the building of "the largest warm saltwater plunge in the world." Advertised as "the man who can walk on water," Freeth drew thousands of people on the Red Cars to watch him ride an 8-foot-long, solid wood, 200-pound surfboard from far out in the surf onto the beach while standing upright. He introduced water polo to this coast, trained many champion swimmers and divers, became the first official lifeguard on the Pacific Coast, and invented the torpedo-shaped rescue buoy now used worldwide. During a violent South Bay storm on December 16, 1908, he rescued six Japanese fishermen from a capsized boat and received the United States Life Saving Corps Gold Medal for his valor. He died on April 7, 1919, at the age of 35 as the result of exhaustion from strenuous rescue work.

Redondo Beach, California · United States