He’s known for a lot of things, but this award has him speechless

Mike Standing pulled into a marina dock parking slot, a wet towel wrapped around his waist. His back was hurting, his shoulders and arms were sore.

He hurt from head to toe.

Minutes earlier he had managed to pull himself out of the Atlantic after a grueling time in the water.

Surfing in his first East Coast Surfing Championship heat in several decades hadn’t been something he’d thought of.

But friends and officials in the 63rd annual event taking place this week at the First Street Jetty had talked him into a brief comeback tour.

He reluctantly obliged.

And he had qualified to compete again hours later.

“That was brutal,” he said, sitting in the gallery of his new boat, Waterman. “I’m hurting, buddy.”

A small price to pay for fame.

Although Standing would be the first to tell you he doesn’t see it that way.

After winning an ECSC boys division event long ago, the 56-year-old graduate of First Colonial High and Clemson University moved on to the big wave scene, traveling the world to catch the really big swells when they popped up.

He still travels in hopes of catching that “dream” swell.

While he still loved everything about the ECSC, he had left competing in it behind.

In the mean time, he became one of Virginia Beach’s best-known businessmen – opening Waterman’s Surfside Grille, Chix on the Beach and the Shack.

He married Mariah and the couple had two children, Ethan and Elise-Marie. Mariah started Waterman’s Spirits.

“Her baby,” he said, flashing a big smile.

He serves on the boards of several businesses and city government, and for the Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament – also going on this week.

If he’s not at the restaurants or fishing, he spends countless hours working with local charities – Surfer’s Healing, the Crush “n” Run 5K, and Waterman’s Dream to name a very slight few.

He encourages his staff at all three Oceanfront establishments to get out in public and volunteer, help others, and be good stewards in the community.

In one endeavor, he set out to raise a half million dollars for Camp Grom. Having met that goal, a lake was built where youngsters and wounded Veterans can get involved in surfing and fishing. They called it “Lake Standing,” which makes him cringe.

But this latest accomplishment has left the well-known chatterbox speechless.

Standing, on Friday, will receive the ECSC’s inaugural Bill and Grace Frierson Community Service Award in honor of Virginia Beach’s iconic board shaper who passed away recently.

“This is so special for a lot of reasons,” Standing said. “I’ve won other stuff, but this means so much more to me.”

Standing says that the Virginia Beach Oceanfront is a resort area looking for a brand. The ECSC, the billfish tournament and the new wave park complex are at the top of a painfully short list.

Frierson unwittingly helped bring considerable celebrity to the city.

Earning an honor in his name transports Standing to a new place. And he readily admits that it’s more than a little overwhelming.

“He was world renowned,” Standing said as he did stretches on the gallery floor of his luxurious Ricky Scarborough fishing yacht. “He was an incredible guy and Grace (Frierson’s better three quarters) was always there.

“She’s an angel from Heaven.”

His answer to a followup was swift and easy.

“Do I own a Frierson?” Standing laughed back. “I own a quiver of them. Since I was 22, a Frierson board is all I’ve ever had.

“He was such an amazing person. A painter, a builder, a musician, a craftsman, a great surfer. He was known all over the world in surfing communities.

“And there aren’t any words to describe what a board shaper and maker he was. Or what a person he was.”

When he’s called to the stage on the beach Friday – if he’s not too sore to make it – to accept his award, most in the crowd won’t understand the emotion Standing will feel and likely show.

It won’t matter.

He’ll know.

A group of friends, coworkers and family understand the connection, and the feeling in his heart and soul, and the memories he says he’ll never forget.

ESCS Legend’s Hall of Fame inductees who will be introduced at 5:30 p.m. Friday on the event’s Main Stage.

Allen White – surfboard shaper, innovator and mentor.

Aaron “Gorkin” Cormican – innovative surf aerialist and mentor,

Bruce Willis – Competitor, beach marshall and advocate of amateur surfing.

Bruce Rader – Former WAVY TV sports director and ECSC storyteller.