RIP: Surfing Pioneer, Billy Meng

Longtime waterman and pioneering surfer, Billy Meng, has passed away.

He died on September 15th.

Eventually, Meng moved to Santa Barbara – between stints in Hawaii, even acting as a guardian to a young, hungry Greg Noll – for one reason: the Queen, Rincon.

In a memorial piece in The Santa Barbara Independent, Meng tells about his surfing life in his own words:

“In 1938, I was 8 when I got my first surfboard. It was a Tom Blake and was a hollow wooden board with a cork plug and a cord that I pulled to let the water out. Fiberglass wasn’t used back in those days. I surfed in a wool sweater because wetsuits weren’t invented yet and witnessed the first surf leash just about the time I was getting out of surfing.

“I have had a life out of the movies, and enough adventure, surfing, fishing — and dated enough women! — to last three lifetimes. Some people say that I created the surf culture and was probably the first of the free spirits. Dewey Weber, Greg Noll, Miki Dora, Mickey Munoz, Mike Stang, and Velzy all called me ‘The Legend.’ I was like the Pied Piper and influenced those young surfer kids; many became legends themselves. My truck was full; by the time I drove from Manhattan Beach to Malibu, I picked up so many of them that there were surfers and surfboards everywhere, kids were on the roof, on my running boards, in the back with all of the boards and six of us sitting in the front seat!

“In the ’50s, I was Greg Noll’s guardian in Hawai‘i. He was only 16, but later Greg became a surf legend, and the first to conquer Waimea and a 25-foot wave at the outside reef at Banzai Pipeline. In my twenties, I lived under the Manhattan Beach pier, surfed; I didn’t work, but always made out. I lived in surf trunks and enjoyed life the way it should be lived, but not everybody agreed to that. I didn’t have a job, got my mail at the Knot Hole Bar, and ate breakfast at The White Stop Café at the bottom of the pier and drove an old Weber’s bread truck.

“At 22, I moved to Santa Barbara. In 1952, the 101 freeway was just a small road. I drove up the coast with my surfboard and had countless miles of beach all to myself. They called them ‘Billy’s Beaches.’ Hardly anybody surfed. It was totally different back then. Those were the best years of surfing because there were only four guys that surfed in this area.

“One place I heard a lot about was Rincon, but nobody surfed it. I asked the guys at my college fraternity that I later got kicked out of, ‘Where’s Rincon at?’”

The piece goes on to talk about Meng’s love affair with the Queen of the Coast, and it’s well worth a read. RIP to this legend of the sport.

***

Don't miss another headline from SURFER! Subscribe to our newsletter, follow us on Instagram, and stay connected with the latest happenings in the world of surfing. We're always on the lookout for amusing, interesting and engaging surf-related videos to feature on our channels.

Whether you're a professional surfer or just an amateur, we want to see your best footage and help you share it with the world. Submit your video for a chance to be featured on SURFER and our social channels. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch high-quality surf videos.