Classmate Search
Search by Name  

Other Photos

Click on a Picture or name
to view more info
 


A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

Bill - William 'Bill'  N.  Craig 
Click on an image for a larger view
Then  
Date Deceased: January 1, 2017
Back to Previous Page


Bill Craig was a waterman who loved Hawaiian culture so much, he brought a taste of it to Orange County.

Craig was known as many things – an entrepreneur, a teacher, even an Olympic gold medalist – but in Newport Beach, he’s fondly remembered as the co-founder of Billy’s at the Beach, a gathering place with a tiki theme that sits on the picturesque Newport Beach harbor.

Craig died Jan. 1 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 71.

Craig spent his early years in Glendale before attending USC, where he excelled at swimming, a sport that took him to the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. The breaststroke specialist won a gold medal in the men’s 4x100-meter medley relay and, in the process, the team set a world record in the event with a time of 3:58.

His first wife, Jeanne Hallock, also was a member of the USC swim team and an Olympic swimmer.

Hallock and Craig moved to Newport Beach in 1970 to be closer to Craig’s mother and other family members. The pair split in the mid-’70s.

Over the years, Craig held several different jobs, including a stint in finance and a teaching position.

Craig owned a second home on Oahu, where he, along with his second wife, Patty, would take his three children for annual vacations. The waterman and surfer was immersed in Hawaiian culture, and even was a member at the famed Outrigger Canoe Club on Oahu.

It was in 1993 that he and his then-25-year-old son Rick, who had worked several restaurant jobs, decided to open a Hawaiian-style eatery in Newport Beach.

“He thought I knew what I was doing, and I thought I knew what I was doing,” Rick, now 49, said with a chuckle on Tuesday. “I was probably a bit over my head.”

Craig knew that the affluent residents of Newport Beach were familiar with the islands, as he was, and there wasn’t anything like Billy’s at the Beach around town at the time.

The customers flooded in, partly for the mai tais, but also because of Craig’s outgoing, welcoming nature.

“We had a real tight-knit group of customers,” Rick said. “He was a universally loved figure.”

Craig was a regular at the Balboa Bay Club, where he would lap the pool. The club is where he met Patty about 25 years ago. They were married in Hawaii and have a 10-year-old son, Christian.

A lesson Rick said he took away from his father: It’s a lot easier to go through life being gracious and nice to people than not.

He also taught him to live life to the fullest.

“I think he lived his life that way,” Rick said. “He didn’t have a whole lot of regrets.”

Friends and acquaintances took to the restaurant’s Facebook page to mourn Craig as they learned of his passing.

“Thank you Billy for creating such a great place to relax with friends and enjoy a deep breath of aloha on the mainland,” one person wrote.

Craig began his battle with Parkinson’s about 10 years ago and he and his son sold the business to family friend Fletcher Jones in 2011.

“It’s a terrible illness that robs you of your abilities. All the things he loved, he couldn’t do with this disease,” Rick said.

Plans are in the works for two memorial services, one at the Balboa Bay Club and another at Billy’s at the Beach. No dates have been set. The family plans to spread Craig’s ashes in Hawaii.

Patty Craig said her husband was a wonderful, caring, giving man who will be sorely missed by the family.

“We will cherish all the memories he gave us,” she said Tuesday. “Our world won’t be the same without him.”

Craig is survived by wife Patty; sons Rick, 49, and Christian, 10; and daughter Kimber, 46; along with two grandchildren, Taylor, 17 and Jordan, 14.