WHATEVER HAPPENED TO JOHN BOOZER?

By Corky Carroll

Ya know how every now and then somebody will ask ya "Whatever happened to so and so?" Well, the other day I was talking to an older surfer from Malibu who stopped into to Duke's to catch my Saturday happy hour act and he asked me, "Whatever happened to John Boozer?" Seeing as how I see Boozer all the time my immediate answer was that nothing had happened to him other than getting older and funnier looking. But then I realized that I probably have never written anything about him and I should have because he is a very notable dude in surfing history, especially here in Orange County.

First off, Boozer is one of those dudes that everyone calls by his last name. Nobody calls him John. Even his wife calls him Boozer. That is when she isn't using some more colorful descriptive moniker. So, for the purpose of authenticity, I'm just gonna go ahead and refer to him as Boozer for the rest of this story. It's not an impolite thing or lack of respect.

Boozer and I are the same age. He first showed in town when we were freshmen at Huntington Beach High School. He was like the first dude that got one of those light blue nylon windbreakers that were the fad that year. At first I didn't know that Boozer was actually his name, I just thought that he was a heavy party animal and everyone called him Boozer because he drank a lotta beer.

Before long Boozer was part of the local rat pack of young surf dogs at the pier. There was a strong lineup of talent at that time, but before too long Boozer was one of the best. He started to excel in the surfing contests and was a top team rider for Gordie surfboards. He placed in a number of contests up and down the coast, including the U.S. Championships, and became one of the top thirty-two ranked surfers by the Western Surfing Association. The highlight of his competitive career was winning the Laguna Masters. This was before they had the Pipeline Masters. And actually the thing wasn't even held in Laguna, it was held in Redondo Beach. But, it was sponsored by Laguna Swimwear. It was invitation only and was one of the first events to give away prizes instead of trophies. Boozer won a motorcycle. Actually I guess he must be a year older than me because I was still in the juniors that year and won a color television set. But we were in the same grade.

Boozer pretty much stayed with surfing throughout his life, working in surf shops and surfboard factories in some capacity or another. Today he is the factory manager, repair dude, shipping guy and in charge of everything that nobody else is taking care of at Spanners Fiberglassing. Spanners is also the Robert August Surfboards factory. He still is an excellent surfer and can be seen in the occasional barrel at Bolsa Chica, his current hanging grounds. One of these years he would be a great choice for the "local hero" star on the surfing walk of fame. I'd vote for him.