Seriously? Someone stole the George Freeth statue from the Redondo pier

It sat on the pier for 31 years, a sea-greened bronze bust of surf god George Freeth. Last night, someone stole it, the Daily Breeze reports:

The statue, created by sculptor Terry O'Donnell, who died recently, has been on the Redondo Beach Pier for 31 years.    

Police have not identified any suspects and will release more information about the theft later today.    

Freeth brought surfing to California from his native Hawaii in 1907, gave exhibitions and, when people became interested, taught anyone who wanted to learn. Nearly 90 years after his death, he remains the patron saint of watermen (and women) up and down the California coast.

Jack London, who met Freeth in Hawaii in his pre-California years, called him "a brown Mercury (whose) heels are winged." That's Freeth in the photo, riding a wakeboard in San Diego in 1917 and making it look like a walk in the park. Two years later, an influenza pandemic swept the world and Freeth was among the victims.

Now, thanks to some light-fingered thugs, SoCal loses another little piece of his legacy.

-- Veronique de Turenne

Photo: Courtesy San Diego Historical Society

Comments

[Wayne]

Exactly the same thing is happening in Vancouver. Unless the thieves have the wherewithal to melt something like this down it will be difficult to unload. At least it would be here because scrap dealers would not touch anything so obviously hot.
This, I hope, greatly increases the chance of recovery.

[Josie]

It's pretty ridiculous to steal a statue of someone of a pier. I saw this statue on Sunday and it would never occur to me to steal it alot. This is really craazy!

[Mike]

There's a centennial article on Freeth from last summer in your very own pages:

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jul/21/opinion/oe-moore21