A Wave Goodbye

Friends called him Mr. Excitement. That’s because Seal Beach surfing icon and restaurateur Jack Haley pulled off everything with grandeur and style.

So it wasn’t surprising that before Haley died Sunday after a battle with cancer, the 65-year-old had planned his own beach party funeral bash, complete with mariachi music and a sea of Hawaiian shirts.

“He demanded not a tear at the party,” his son, Tim, said Monday. “He wanted it to celebrate his life.”

The date, time and place have yet to be decided for the party honoring the man who last year was inducted into the Surfing Hall of Fame and Walk of Fame, both in Huntington Beach. But until then, scores of Haley’s friends and admirers have been dropping by his restaurant--Captain Jack’s--to offer condolences, Tim Haley said.

One of the area’s most famous residents, Jack Haley was never far from the surf and sand that helped make him a local legend.

He was 24 when he took top honors in the first surfing championship to be held near Huntington Beach Pier. The year was 1959, and Haley was credited with laying the foundation that would later give the seaside community its nickname: Surf City.

Haley was proud that he found a way to incorporate work with his passion, and in the early 1960s started a career as a Seal Beach lifeguard. Itching for a new challenge, the self-styled entrepreneur opened one of the area’s first surf shops, Jack Haley’s Surfboards, in 1961. Captain Jack’s, the Pacific Coast Highway restaurant, followed in 1965, and remains popular.

He loved Seal Beach and always seemed to be either starting or finishing a community project, friends said. In 1997, for example, Haley headed up a campaign to raise private funds to build a local police substation atop the lifeguard headquarters. The building is named in his honor.

It’s hard to hit the hot spots in Seal Beach without coming across other similar honors, which are as much a tribute to the man who stood 6-foot-6 as to his work, they said.

“He was large in presence as he was in stature. When he walked into a room, you felt it right away. People looked at him with respect,” said Rich Harbour, a surfboard manufacturer who knew Haley for about 40 years, and recalled that it was Haley who first taught him how to gloss a surfboard. “Whatever he did, it was bigger than life. If he threw a party, it would be one of the most amazing parties in years, and everyone would talk about it.”

Of all his accomplishments, Haley was probably best known as a pioneer of the sport. In those early days, he made surfboards and rode the waves when it was rare to find someone who did either.

Young aspiring surfers have long looked up to Haley as a mentor. Many, like Harbour, bought their first surfboards from him.

Haley was not above shunning the culture he helped create. A bit of a maverick, Haley preferred surfing on the long-boards crafted in the ‘60s as opposed to the fashionable shorter boards that became popular later, friend said. It was a style that worked for him.

“He caught more waves than anyone,” said Bruce Jones, a surfboard manufacturer and Haley admirer. “He was just being himself, and he stood out of the crowd.”

That may also explain Haley’s own personal style. He could almost always be found wearing a loud Hawaiian shirts--untucked--with shorts and flip-flops. He boasted a voracious appetite for life and a genuine concern for people, said Tim Haley.

He is survived by his mother, Virginia; his wife, Jeanette; and children Tim, Sondra and Jack Jr., who played professional basketball, including two seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers. They plan to sprinkle his ashes into the ocean off Maui and Cabo San Lucas, where he owned homes nearby.

“His ashes will be poured into the sea, so he will continue surfing,” Tim Haley said.