IN MEMORY OF JOSH HALL

sports layout powered by HOT FreeLayouts.com / MyHotComments BAKERSFIELD NEWSPAPER READS..HUNTINGTON BEACH-JOSHUA DEAN HALL COULD SMELL SALT AIR ALL THE WAY FROM OILDALE. THE FORMER STANDARD MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT LONGED FOR THE OCEAN AND THE RUSH OF A BIG, BLUE WAVE. AND DRIVEN BY THAT DREAM, HE MOVED TO THIS ORANGE COUNTY BEACH COMMUNITY TWO YEARS AGO. HE DIED THURSDAY. HALL,16, WAS KILLED WHEN HE SURFED INTO A CONCRETE PIER PILING. HE HAD MAJOR HEAD AND UPPER BODY INJURIES. AN AUTOPSY FRIDAY SHOWED THAT HE HAD DROWNED, APPARENTLY AFTER BEING KNOCKED UNCONCIOUS.IT WAS THE FIRST DAY OF THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR FOR THE HUNTINGTON BEACH HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR, AND THE FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE FOR THE SCHOOLS SURF TEAM. "WE ALWAYS STRESS SAFETY," SAID SURF COACH ANDY VERDONE. "THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN MY NIGHTMARE." FRIENDS AND FAMILY SAID THE OCEAN AND SURFING BECKONED HALL, A BAKERSFIELD NATIVE, TO THIS COASTAL SUBURB. "HE WAS CHASING HIS DREAM," SAID JOSHUA'S AUNT KACEY HALL OF BAKERSFIELD. "HE CAME HERE TO MAKE HIS LIFEBETTER AND TO SURF, AND HE DIED DOING WHAT HE LOVED BEST."DONALD HALL, JOSHUA'S GRANDFATHER AND GUARDIAN, SAID JOSHUA WAS MORE INTERESTED IN PERFECTING HIS ABILITIES ON A SURFBOARD THAN ACQUIRING HIS DRIVER'S LICENSE. "HE LOVED THE BEACH AND HE LOVED THE WATER AND HAD ALWAYS DREAMED OF BECOMING A SURFER, AND IN THE DESERTS OF BAKERSFIELD YOU DONT DO THAT," HALL SAID FRIDAY."HE JOINED THE SURFING CLASS AND HE WAS IN HEAVEN." "HE WAS SO COMMITTED," SAID HALL, NOTING THAT HIS GRANDSON HOPED TO MAKE THE TRAVELING TEAM THIS YEAR. SINCE MOVING TO ORANGE COUNTY IN 1995, HALL SPENT MOST OF HIS FREE TIME SURFING, AND HE WAS RARELY SEEN WITH OUT HIS BOARD.ON THURSDAY, HE ARRIVED FOR 6A.M. PRACTICE WITH A NEW $300 SURFBOARD- A GIFT FROM HIS GRANDMOTHER.HIS COACH AND TEAMMATES SAID HALL SHOWED THEM SOME OF THE BEST SURFING HE EVER HAD DONE. "I TOLD HIM HE WAS RIPPIN," VERDONE SAID. "HE WAS JUST GETTING THE NICEST BARRELS INTO THE PIER," SAID TEAMMATE TIMMY TURNER, 16."I WAS STOKED FOR HIM."AFTER SCHOOL, HALL RETURNED TO THE WATER FOR A FEW MORE RIDES.ABOUT 5P.M., HE TRIED TO SURF BETWEEN THE PILINGS OF THE HUNTINGTON BEACH PIER AND STRUCK ONE OF THE POSTS AT ABOUT 20 MPH. ANOTHER SURFER ALSO HIT THE PILINGS BUT WAS UNHARMED. WHEN ANOTHER SURFER SPOTTED HALL'S DRIFTING BOARD, HE FOUND THE YOUTH'S SUBMERGED BODY ATTACHED TO IT BY THE ANKLE LEASH. HE AND TWO OTHER SURFERS HELPED BRING THE TEENAGER TO SHORE.LIFEGUARDS WERE UNABLE TO REVIVE HALL. HE CARRIED NO IDENTIFICATION, BUT WAS IDENTIFIED THROUGH HIS SURFBOARD. POLICE BROUGHT IT BACK TO HUNTINGTON SURF AND SPORT, WHERE HALLS GRANDMOTHER BOUGHT IT THE DAY BEFORE. DANNY NICHOLS, 17, A FRIEND OF HALLS WHO SOLD HIM THE BOARD, IDENTIFIED IT AND KNEW HIS FRIEND WAS DEAD. "AS MUCH AS I WANTED IT TO NOT BE HIM, IT WAS HIM." NICHOLS SAID.FUNERAL SERVICES ARE SCHEDULED FOR TUESDAY AT FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN HUNTINGTON BEACH. HE WILL BE BURIED IN HUNTINGTON BEACH IN HIS TEAM SWEATSUIT, HIS AUNT SAID.HALLS FRIENDS PLANNED A MEMORIAL FOR HIM WEDNESDAY MORNING AT THE END OF THE PIER, WHERE THEY WILL PADDLE OUT AND EACH WILL LEAVE A WREATH IN HIS MEMORY.