Jim Kempton, surfer and journalist, joining Poway High Hall of Fame

One of the three honorees being named to this year’s Poway High School Hall of Fame is Jim Kempton, Class of 1969.

Kempton is being honored for his contributions in the field of journalism as the editor of Surfer Magazine.

Kempton became editor of Surfer Magazine in 1978 and served in the position for five years, during the magazine’s most impactful period. Since then, he’s worked at TransWorld Publishing as a publisher and editor, Quiksilver Crossing as the director, and Billabong, surfing’s top lifestyle brand, as the media director.

Currently, he writes an editorial column which is carried by three regional newspapers, and he is a contributing writer for national and international surfing publications.

“Needless to say, I’m thrilled, but I’m also a little perplexed to be picked,” said Kempton. “I’m not a great golfer or a musician with a no. 1 song.”

Kempton is joined this year in the Hall of Fame by Joan Samuelson, class of 1968, a Parkinson’s disease research advocate; and Charley Hoffman, class of 1995, a professional golfer. Kempton said he was especially excited to see Samuelson be honored, as she was in the grade above him. “Joan is an absolute doll, and deserves to be in the Hall of Fame more than anyone I know,” said Kempton. “She was a mentor to me.”

Kempton was born in Guam and was raised in Southeast Asia, where he learned to surf. He moved to Poway for high school, a difficult transition for him. “It was tough to move in high school,” he said. “It seemed like everyone else was born in Poway and had spent their entire school career together. It was a little hard to break it, it took a lot of effort on my part. But I really enjoyed high school.”

Poway was much smaller when Kempton attended school. “It really was out in the country,” he said. “And Mira Mesa was just a giant mesa with a drive-in movie theater.”

Kempton didn’t let living in landlocked Poway stop him from surfing. He took an after school job working in a surf shop in Encinitas.

Though he said his grades weren’t always the best, Kempton called himself a good student who loved school. “I learned a lot, and I was always curious to learn,” said Kempton. He graduated from college in three years with a degree in English with an emphasis in journalism. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” he said. “I wanted to travel the world, surf and make money.”

While obtaining his MBA, Kempton spent a semester studying abroad in England, where he started his first business — selling Hawaiian shirts he bought in California thrift shops to Europeans. “I was wearing a Hawaiian shirt in London that I had bought for $.50 in a thrift store,” he said. “Some guy offered to buy it from me for 50 pounds.”

Kempton said he wrote his MBA thesis on exporting California surfer gear, and spent about five years traveling the world, selling shirts and surfing.

Kempton had similar luck when it came to journalism. In 1978, he took over as editor and then publisher of Surfer Magazine for five years. “I became the publisher in three years,” said Kempton. “I had an English degree that focused on journalism, an MBA and had been surfing for 20 years. It made me uniquely qualified to be the publisher of a surfing magazine. I was young, ambitious, full speed ahead.”

Following his time at Surfer Magazine, Kempton starting his own advertising agency, and also spent several years as publisher and editor for TransWorld Publishing, as the director for Quiksilver Crossing, and the media director for Billabong.

Now Kempton, in addition to writing his editorial column, is also the president of the California Surf Museum in Oceanside, as well as serving on the board for Surfing America, the national governing body of the sport.

Kempton has three children, one of whom has followed in his footsteps as a surfer.

The three alumni will be honored at a dinner from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, May 30 at The Country Club of Rancho Bernardo, 12280 Greens East Road. Tickets are $35 and are available online at powayhighfoundation.org/hall-of-fame.html. The event includes a buffet dinner and a no-host bar.

Kempton said he will be attending the reception. “My high school English teacher Diane Yerkes, my favorite teacher in the world, will be introducing me at the reception,” he said.