For all the surf titles that coach Bill Hartman racked up at San Clemente High School, he drew perhaps the most satisfaction each year from the grades his surfers achieved in the classroom.

The retired educator and surf coach died March 30 at age 72, doing what he loved, surfing at his favorite surf spot, Grandview Street in Encinitas. That’s where the surf community will gather at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 8, for a paddle-out celebration of his life.

He was San Clemente High’s athletic director when the school launched its surf team in 1977, an era when surfers’ public image was more like the rebels portrayed in Hollywood movies than respected athletes in football, baseball or track.

Hartman set out to change that, hiring former Marine Sam Conroy, a history teacher who was then president of the San Onofre Surf Club, to coach the team.

“There was no pay for it,” Hartman said in a 2005 interview. “I used to pay him as ‘assistant gymnastics coach.’ “

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