A Look Back -- Jerry Person

Jerry Person

This week we’ll look at the man who was well known and liked in our

community, and who -- along with his friend Bud Higgins -- created the

first surfboard in Huntington Beach.

Eugene “Gene” Belshe was born in 1908 as was the one of five Belshe

children and four more half brothers for a total of eight brothers.

His brothers were Archie, Harvey, Herbert and William and his half

brothers were Andy Quinn, Ernest Quinn, Virgil Woods and William Quinn.

Belshe received his basic education in Huntington Beach where he went

to Huntington High School along with is friend Bud Higgins in 1922.

While at Huntington High, Belshe became an excellent swimmer and a

good athlete. In his junior year he joined the Navy -- that was on May 9,

1924. While in the Navy Belshe held the title of All-Navy Swimming

Champion in long-distance swimming in 1927. He was discharged from the

Navy as a coxswain aboard the USS Arizona on April 23, 1928.

Returning home from the service Belshe went to work as a

chieflifeguard for his hometown of Huntington Beach on May 1, 1928.

His friend Bud Higgins went down to Corona del Mar in 1927 to see Duke Kahanamoku and several other Hawaiians who were staying there.

From that meeting Higgins learned how they crafted their surfboards.

Higgins and Belshe crafted the first surfboards here in Huntington

Beach in 1928.

These two were made of redwood and weighted 135 pounds each.

Four months after joining the lifeguards Belshe joined the Huntington

Beach Police as a motorcycle patrolman.

He would continue as a patrolman until 1929 when he returned to his

position as a lifeguard.

Belshe would divide his time between serving as chief lifeguard during

the summer months, and as patrolman and later as a fire engineer during

the winter months.

He transferred to the Huntington Beach Fire Department in the early

1930s.

He was a member of the Southern Pacific Athletic Assn. and in several

smaller swimming associations.

Belshe became a full-time police motorcycle officer in the city on

Feb. 25, 1935.

One of his duties at that time was to direct traffic in the middle of

the intersection of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway.

Lucky for him they didn’t have the traffic we have today at that

intersection.

Huntington Beach Police Chief Don Blossom promoted Belshe to assistant

chief on May 26, 1941 and Belshe would serve as a captain on the

Huntington Beach police force.

During World War II there was a shortage of ammunition for police

target practice and Belshe, his wife Johnnie and their son Buddy set up a

bullet making shop in the basement of the old City Hall at 5th Street and

Orange Avenue.

The three of them would turn out about 1,000 rounds per week and this

solved the problem.

Belshe would also man the night desk at the police station from 3 to

11 p.m.

Belshe would continue his swimming and won several medals and trophies

in several contests along our coast.

He served as president of the Southern California Swimming & Diving

Assn. and organized the town’s swim club and coached it along with his

wife Johnnie.

Many of our local girls and boys have Gene and Johnnie to thank for

showing them how to swim the right way.

The Belshes belonged to the First Baptist Church in Huntington Beach

and were active members in its congregation.

They lived at 711 Orange Ave. within eyesight of the City Hall and the

jail.

Belshe left us at a very young age of 45 on Sept. 20, 1953, but his

memory will live on for years to come.

* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach

resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box

7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.