Sad loss to surfing. Jim Fisher, and I had the pleasure to be taken to breakfast at Harry's, in La Jolla, by Mr. Arness, in the mid 60's.. He was down surfing Windansea one weekend, and hit it on a solid 8 foot weekend. He was very much ''a regulr guy'' and seem not to be affected by his ''star power.''
His son could surf pretty good too
A giant among men in all ways.
RIP Jim.
One of the coolest things I did was go to his place north of SB. His property was below Bev Morgan’s. The views from the land are equal to the waves, and that should say it all.
"He was very much ‘a regulr guy’ and seem not to be affected by his ‘‘star power.’’
+1.
I lived in Malibu when I was a kid and used to see him out grocery shopping at the Mayfair Market up by The Colony. He was friendly and relaxed around the other shoppers and always nice to us kids who thought he was Marshall Matt Dillon. No star pretensions whatsoever, even during the peak of his acting career.
sad to hear of this
I had heard he was a very good surfer and a great person also.
Back in the early 70’s I ran into Davey Hilton down in lower Baja…close friends with Rolf Arness since they were kids, he had some good stories about surfing with him and his pop…three of them surfed a lot of ranch together…apparently James had a prop plane set-up for sand landings,had his pilot fly the three of them down into Baja on Saturday mornings for a remote beach in the middle of nowhere, surf and camp overnight next to the plane, fly out Sunday afternoon…said at heart, he was a core surfer…
My dad grew up with James Arness and they were friends in school . After graduation My dad went in the Navy and James went in the army. Once in a while my dad would talk about kid times with James but I never much cared. My dad was a couple years older but they were in the same grade. My dad always watched him on TV. He thought it was cool to have a class mate that was successful !
Howzit Wood_Ogre, I can remember hearing about Buffalo bringing him over to kauai in the 60's and paddleing out to the Bay with him for a good session. From what I understand he and Buff were good friends. Aloha,Kokua
My surfing buddy Roger Adams was good friends with Rolf.
We all had fun back in 1969 -71
Jim really liked my dog Yuma.
Both were very down to earth people then.
I recall reading an article about Jim, and his board collection. It seems he a had a fondness for classic wood and owned some historic boards. Can anyone expound on this? The article may have been in TSJ.
Here’s Big Jim and Rolf at SanO 8 or 10 years ago.
I have lots of great memories of times spent with these two.
Bing
I’m curious about how this board got in Randy’s World…It shudda been in a museum!
Rogelio
he was one of my all time favorites. loved the fact he surfed and was into going to baja long ago. like ace said, his son wasn’t too bad of a surfer in his own right.(world champ). ICC, wonder if i’m the only other person here who knows where bev’s property is?
anyway, rest in peace marshall…
Nobody was quicker on the draw, either. Sounds like he was a good man in private, too. Loved that show when I was a kid. Goofy foot or regular? Mike
I had saved this photo of James’s Makaha Gun. It might be 12’
maybe 13’
The board Rolf rode at Makaha swell of 69 ??
There was an article about rolf a long time ago in an issue of TSJ. The whole family seemed pretty interesting. There are those in hollywood who surfed before they became famous and you don’t hear about it too much then there are those who start after and you always hear about it.
Interesting discussion with my Uncle Joe in Maryland last night. James Aurness,Joe,my dad,my mom ,my moms sister were all in the same social circle in high school in Minnesota. James went out with both my mother and her sister, James was best man at my uncle Joes wedding and is God father to my cousin Burney;. My dad ,Uncle Joe and James went to the Navy recruter in Minneapolis to try to become pilots .They weren't enlisting pilots but took my dad as a machinest. Uncle Joe and James went to the army recruiter, James was to tall for a pilot so he went infrantry, My uncle Joe became an army fighter pilot but never left the mainland so didn't see combat. My dad ended up a warrent officer and was a test pilot and was sent to Pearl Harbor in prep for the push to invade Japan. James shipped out for Europe shortly after My Aunts wedding to uncle Joe and got shot up. After the war my Uncle Joe and James kept in touch over the years and James visited my dad when I was a little kid and then again when my dad was living in Kaneohe in the early 70s. James talked my Uncle Joe into moveing to Hawaii for a while.I Never met James Arness, ,too bad for that!