Researching Bill Andrews

Andrews grew up surfing in La Jolla, California. He caught his first wave in 1957 at La Jolla Shores Beach. By the early sixties, he had joined the line-up at Windansea Beach, and with other local surfers, he helped establish Black's Beach as a world class break. The Surfer's Journal calls Andrews the “first Black’s local”, a considerable accomplishment given the difficult trail or long paddle to access Black's Beach at that time. In 1965 Andrews’ reputation landed him on the cover of Surfer magazine. The Ron Stoner photograph shows Andrews crouched and gliding on infinite wave face glass at Black's.

With time, Andrews' long-lived and vocal presence, in and out of the water, made him something of a surf sage. He was cited in numerous articles and videos on surf history including "Welcome to Windansea" by Chris Ahrens, "The Strange Disappearance of Ron Stoner" by Matt Warshaw, PHOTO/STONER by Matt Warshaw, and Ty Ponder's "Sea Level Pressure." Andrews has also appeared in "Magnificent Obsessions" on Voom Network, "Southern California Son" by James Weaver, and "Core La Jolla Shores" by Fred Stoughton.

In 2016 Andrews was diagnosed with ALS. Using a walker he designed himself and later, a motorized wheelchair he also customized, Andrews continued to frequent his favorite beaches. Local media broadcast his story to a new audience, calling him a legendary surfer and one of the last great watermen. Bill Andrews died 26 October 2017. An announcement by SURFER ends in Andrews' own words, “Every day spent surfing was worth it, and I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Andrews was a tall man (6 ft 3in) with a high arm action, often referred to as "12 o'clock high". He kept a good length and generally bowled in swingers to right-handed batsmen. He claimed his high action was modelled on Ted McDonald.

Although he was sacked four times by Somerset, twice as a player and twice as a coach, he put much of his life into the club as player, coach and later on committees and as a supporter. In turn he became one of the most popular players that Somerset have ever had.

Well to the left in terms of politics he did not fit in well with the clear distinction between Amateurs and Professionals prevalent in the game when he started. He seems to have a particular dislike for Jack White who was his first captain at Somerset and was an Amateur from a different era. It has been conjectured that his forthright views were the reason that he was never selected to play any representative cricket.

He was well known for his greeting of "Shake the hand that bowled Bradman". He had indeed bowled Bradman in 1938 but it was, of course, a joke since Bradman had scored 202 by that stage and deliberately let himself be bowled. Bradman, who did not start his innings until early on the second day, completed his innings before the tea interval. His second hundred came in just 70 minutes. Andrews autobiography was called "The Hand that bowled Bradman". Although not entirely accurate it is a good read.

The other great one-liner credited to Andrews was on his Somerset debut in 1930 when he asked the Somerset pro Tom Young: "Am I the worst cricketer that ever played first-class cricket, Mr. Young?". Back came the answer: "No son. There was one worse than you. Trevor Arnott of Glamorgan.". Trevor Arnott had dismissed Tom Young a number of times in the previous two season perhaps explaining why his name came to mind.