HUNTINGTON BEACH : Statue to Honor Surf Lifeguard Innovator

For 30 years, Vincent G. Moorhouse dedicated his life to Huntington Beach and became a leader who made waves for professionalism among surf lifeguards.

Moorhouse, who died in 1992 at age 60, will be memorialized today with a hand-sculptured bronze statue of a six-foot brown pelican. The statue is planned to be placed near the city’s lifeguard headquarters.

The statue will be unveiled during a ceremony that starts at 2 p.m. on the beach, south of Huntington Beach Pier.

The money to pay for the $12,000 statue has been raised through a variety of fund-raisers, said Lt. Steve Davidson, of the Huntington Beach Marine Safety Division.

Those fund-raisers include the “Coastal Crusade,” which began Monday and involved 15 lifeguards who joined a 120-mile run and swim along the Southern California coast.

Participants started near the Mexican border and headed north toward Huntington Beach and are expected to arrive in town early this afternoon for the ceremony, Davidson said.

Moorhouse was the city’s lifeguard chief and a former community services director. He also was one of the founders of the World Surf Life Saving Assn. and United States Surf Life Saving Assn., organizations that share educational information and new lifesaving techniques, Davidson said.

Moorhouse was instrumental in making Huntington Beach a model for “surf lifesaving” standards, said Davidson, 45, a 26-year city employee who worked with Moorhouse.

“He was a major factor in the progress that there has been in this field,” Davidson said. “He was a pioneer and innovator. . . . He was one of the leaders in the field in a profession that hasn’t gotten much respect in the past.”