Joined OCC: 1938
Elected to Winged “O”: 1981
Name a Club athletic activity, then check the records and you’ll find John Beaumont’s name prominent in all of them whether it is surfing, paddling, volleyball, golf or motorcycle racing.
Motorcycle racing? What’s athletic about motorcycle racing? Try manhandling one of those big iron hogs over bumpy, twisting, dusty and muddy mountain trails for a couple of hours and you’ll get an idea of what a workout really is.
John was born on January 7, 1924 in Hennepin, Minnesota and became a member of the Outrigger Canoe Club in 1938. Long before he retired to motorcycle racing, John represented Outrigger in surfing, paddling and volleyball. He was a member of the winning Senior crew in the very first Walter Macfarlane Canoe Race in 1943.
One of his fond recollections of those early days is hitting the Club Snack Shop after school for their rice and gravy at five cents a scoop.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, John’s University of Hawaii ROTC unit was activated. He was assigned as a bodyguard for then Governor Joseph B. Poindexter. John recalls that surfing from the old Club at Waikiki was somewhat difficult in those days because the beaches had been strung with barbed wire against an expected Japanese invasion.
Later John joined the Merchant Marine, graduated from the Merchant Marine Academy and sailed as a deck officer for the rest of the war and a year or so afterwards. Returning to Honolulu, he joined the newly-organized Hawaii Air National Guard and spent the next 30 years as a full-time member of that organization, retiring as a Major in 1986.
Between his surfing, his paddling and his volleyball playing, John managed to become an expert pistol shot. He did so well in local matches that he was sent to the national matches at Camp Perry, Ohio. On the basis of his performance there he was selected to represent the United States in the 1956 Olympic Games at Melbourne. He took ninth place against the best pistol shooters in the world.
Over the years he was a member of the National Champion Masters volleyball team, paddled with the Golden Masters canoe crews, was a member of the winning Outrigger team in the Mauna Kea Motorcycle 200, served two terms as Club Captain (1977-1979) and a two-year term as a member of the Board of Directors.
With such an impressive record for contributions to Club activities, it is understandable why John Beaumont was selected as a member of the prestigious Winged “O”.
John passed away on September 19, 2000.