Bob Gillies, 85, original member of the Santa Cruz Surfing Club -- ["Bustin Down the Door," new surf film]
ZapRatz
of the Santa Cruz Surfing Club
07/27/2008 01:36:49 AM PDT
http://www.mercurynews.com/centralcoast/ci_10012897
Santa Cruz lost a surfing pioneer last week.
Bob Gillies, one of the original members of the Santa Cruz Surfing
Club, died early Sunday morning after a battle with colon cancer. He
was 85.
With Gillies' passing, only 10 of the original 27 SCSC members remain
alive today.
Gillies was born and raised in Santa Cruz. He started surfing around
age 14 or 15, according to Harry Mayo, 84, the SCSC's official
historian and Gillies' best friend for 75 years since they met in the
fourth grade.
"He just showed up and started borrowing boards and surfing," Mayo
said. "Then he was initiated into the club."
When Gillies and Mayo took to the waves in the 1930s, the surfing
scene wasn't much of a scene at all, just a small group of friends who
liked to hang out at the beach.
"We surfed Cowell's, the Rivermouth and Pleasure Point," Mayo said.
"It was all ours. There was no reason to go anywhere else. There were
times when you would be sitting on the steps of the clubhouse, just
waiting for someone to go out with."
While Gillies and his fellow early surfers never worried about crowds,
they did have to contend with chilly water and no wetsuits, long swims
after lost boards, and 60 to 90-pound wooden boards.
"Those guys were the epitome of the Greatest Generation," said Dan
Young, one of the next generation of SCSC members and a founder of the
Santa Cruz Surfing Museum. "They're just genuinely nice human beings.
They surfed because it was fun. They didn't look at themselves as
pioneers, they just happened to be the first ones to do it."
Gillies was a popular member of the club, known for his Ford Model A
car which often carted surfers and their boards around town, and his
sharp sense of humor.
"One thing about him," Mayo said. "All the surfing he did, he never
owned his own board. A couple of weeks before he passed away I asked
him if it was true that he never had his own board, and he just smiled
and nodded his head.
"He was one of those guys," added Mayo, "if he liked you, you were in
trouble. He was on you all the time. He always said, 'I wouldn't be
picking on you if I didn't like you.'"
Local filmmaker Pat Farley got to know Gillies well in 1999, when he
began interviewing many of the original SCSC members for the making of
his film "Cowell's and the New Millenium." He said Gillies' reputation
as a harsh comedian among his friends held true into his old age.
"When I interviewed Bob, those guys let me into their little circle,"
Farley said. "They're all in their eighties, and still ripping on each
other. Watching those guys rip on each other was pretty fun. Everybody
seemed to like [Gillies]. He will be dearly missed."
Gillies was also an active member of the SCSC. He served on numerous
committees and was one of the driving forces behind the construction
of the surfer statue along West Cliff Drive, organizing the financing
and permitting with the city.
Nearly every Friday for over 20 years, Gillies volunteered as a docent
at the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum in the Mark Abbott Memorial
Lighthouse. He would work the early shift and Mayo would relieve him
for the late afternoon.
Young said you could always count on Gillies to show up and teach the
public about Santa Cruz's rich surfing history.
"Since we opened memorial day 1986, Friday was always the Santa Cruz
Surfing Club shift," he said. "They would have their club meeting and
talk story every Friday afternoon. You could always count on him
showing up.
"Santa Cruz has some bizarre reputations, but everyone always comes
out of that museum smiling."
A memorial service for Gillies is planned for Tuesday, August 12 at 10
a.m. at the Lighthouse.
• "Bustin Down the Door," a new surf film chronicling the birth of
professional surfing during the 1970s, will show at the Del Mar
Theatre Tuesday at 7 p.m. The special sneak preview screening will
feature a Q & A with two of the movie's stars, former world champions
Shaun Tomson and Mark Richards. Regular showings begin Friday.
Got a surf story? Contact Leo Maxam at 429-2417 or [lmaxam @
santacruzsentinel .com].
--
Extirpirate - a portmanteau of extirpate and pirate
http://www.extirpirate.com/
As of the day this message is being posted there are,
lacking an unexpected alternate outcome, 176 days
remaining in the imperial presidency of George W. Bush
Bob Feigel
<zapratzR...@newsguy.com> magnanimously proffered:
>Bob Gillies, one of the original members of the Santa Cruz Surfing
>Club, died early Sunday morning after a battle with colon cancer. He
>was 85.
RIP
--
"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody Allen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wax-up and drop-in of Surfing's Golden Years: <http://www.surfwriter.net>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ZapRatz
<b...@surfwriter.net.not> wrote:
>>Bob Gillies, one of the original members of the Santa Cruz Surfing
>>Club, died early Sunday morning after a battle with colon cancer. He
>>was 85.
>RIP
"colon cancer"... one tube he had trouble shooting through