Ricky Grigg, leader of the most charmed life. Photo: Tim McCullough
Ricky Grigg
(1937-2014)
“I live in two very separate worlds and I see the beauty and the failing of both. In science, people get to the core of what it is all about; and that is understanding how the Universe works and how life evolved, and of course, our place, as tiny bits of passing compilations of protoplasmic sparkle. But scientists are too self absorbed to be adrift at sea, to lose themselves in the vast wonder of 30 foot mountains rounding Kaena Point like an army under the command of Lawrence of Arabia screaming out his charge to take no prisoners. But surfers don’t seem to take their passion back to libraries of knowledge and try to decipher what it is, to truly understand. Einstein said, “Our quest to understand is eternal.” So that is why I stay at the edge of both surfing and science societies. Only then, can you be free to jump off the mountain, to soar with the wind, and take it back to physics, poetry, and love.”
-Ricky Grigg, 2010
On May 21, 2014 surfing lost its sport’s renaissance man Richard Grigg. And he will be sorely missed.
Although known in the world of Oceanography as Dr. Richard Grigg, he was affectionately called Ricky Grigg by the surfing world. Not only recognized and respected as one of the world’s leading experts on Coral Studies, he was also one of our sport’s greatest big wave riders. Part of the early Santa Monica crew who traversed the Pacific in search of riding big surf (composed of a tight group of friends like Peter Cole, Buzzy Trent, and Joe Quigg), Ricky not only made Hawaii his home, but he grew to love the Hawaiian Islands deeply; so much so that his life quest became about searching for a deeper understanding of their formation and coming into being. It might even be said that he abandoned his California roots to become Hawaiian. He once told me that, “It is easy to love these beautiful islands. But, when one has a deeper understanding of how they were formed, this is when you love them even more.”
But every life begins somewhere for everyone, and for Richard Grigg it began on April 12, 1937 when he was born in Los Angeles, California. At the age of six, his grandfather brought his mother, sister Robin, and little Ricky an old mansion that was once owned by the silent film actress Mary Pickford. Two blocks from Santa Monica Pier, on the boardwalk next to Muscle Beach, the Pacific Ocean was his playground and Buzzy Trent’s lifeguard tower rested in front of it. As could happen only in Hollywood, the scene was set. Certainly, circumstance and environment affects the trajectory of one’s life, but in Ricky Griggs’s case, the timing for take off was curiously poised.
“I started listening to his stories when I was about nine years old and, of course, kept on listening for about 50 more years. In many ways my dreams were copies of his dreams. At least part of me was always following him. I would say that Buzzy Trent, my mother and two professors (in college) were the most influential people in my life. But my “go for it” instincts were all reinforced, almost molded by Buzzy. He was definitely the hero in my life and still is in so many ways.”
He has always wanted to be an oceanographer. From the time he was catching the wind in a pillow case and rushing into the ocean to ride it to being pushed into his first wave by Buzzy Trent at the age of nine years old on a Simmons board with a nose, “that was so concaved that you could eat a salad on it,” he has always been in love with the sea. Motivation, inspiration, and a sense of duty always propelled him into the direction of serious study. Living within two worlds that didn’t characteristically cohabitate well together, he was determined to become the surfer who also became the professor. To do so might impose sacrifice or compromise, but for Ricky, he forged his path methodically with clear focus and crystal determination.
After graduating from Stanford University in 1958, he felt a brief sense of freedom to permit him a short hiatus. At last, he traveled to Hawaii to devote himself to surfing big waves. Loving the islands, but longing to see more, he took a job as a shipmate on the Maunawanui, earning his keep while sailing to Tahiti. Returning to Hawaii to attend the University of Hawaii, he earned his Master’s degree in Oceanography. Pursuing higher study, in 1964 he studied at Scripps Institution of Oceanography where he received his PhD in Coral Studies. And yet, while focusing on school, he continued to hone his skills as a big wave rider, winning the second Duke Kahanamoku International Invitational Contest in 1967. Although he was tied to the contrary worlds of surfing and science, he was determined to have them both, and in doing so, create a more unified life. So, in 1970 he joined the faculty of the University of Hawaii in the Department of Oceanography as a full time professor.
“In my other world of science, people are not threatened by disagreement, in fact, that is what we thrive on; sharing, comparing, disagreeing, or agreeing, it doesn’t matter because the subject of the discussion is not about people. Most surfers only seem to be concerned about people and their place in the hierarchy; all that doesn’t matter much to me unless I love someone. Most people plateau in middle age and then slide quietly sideways. But we must continue to evolve in searching for a higher meaning. In doing so, it can sustain us for the good; but it may also question the status quo. The cost for inner reflection, lust for life is the proof of one’s own quit worth.”
Toward the end when we spoke, always the great analyzer, he often reflected on the journey and his gratitude for the life he’d lived. He said he was, “Satisfied. Completely happy.” And I had to agree with him, even reminding him that he had lived a life most people only dream of. In fact, it was charmed really. Ricky Grigg lived the most charmed life of any man I have ever known.
And now, Ricky Grigg no longer walks the planet among us. He belongs to surfing’s ages. But if we believe that our immortality rests in what we leave behind in others, then Ricky Grigg is going to be around for a very long time, a testimony that if one lives the life one dreams of, the journey will always be well worth it.
“Buzzy told me to be grateful. He said, ” you don’t have to ride another 30 foot wave. That wave has immortality in your brain.” So given no limits except our own finiteness, we must reach for the stars and dance with them; to know them too, so we can know ourselves as independent spirits, free to discover the heavens right here on earth.”
-Ricky Grigg, 2010-
