Longtime Catalina Island resident Walt Puffer was recently presented an award from the Los Angeles County Lifeguard Association for his 42 years of service as an ocean lifeguard. Much of his time as a lifeguard included working on Catalina, where he spent his summers living and working on the island that he would eventually make his home.
Walt worked steadily as a lifeguard and was part of the first Baywatch crew in Avalon in 1970. But he would eventually graduate from UCLA with a bachelors and masters in kinesiology (a term that replaced ‘physical education’ during his tenure there). With that, Walt began a career in education as a teacher/coach, principal and eventually Superintendent of Beverly Hills School District.
Walt began coming to the island as a summer lifeguard, after passing the lifeguard exams in 1947, the year he graduated from El Segundo High. He had been an athlete in high school, where he was a member of the swim team, and also played football, water polo and basketball, among other sports. But water sports were always a love and he still gets out for a swim whenever he can.
“I think that is what has kept me relatively healthy,” Walt said in a 2023 interview.
