Local surfing legend Joe Roland, 74, died Thursday morning after beachgoers found him unresponsive with his board still attached to his ankle in Ponte Vedra Beach, according to reports.
Emergency units were called to the scene at roughly 8 a.m. and crews immediately began rendering aid.
Roland, a Ponte Vedra resident, was transported to a local hospital but passed away.
A Facebook user posted an image of a surfboard they said belonged to the man that was embossed with the name “Joe.”
“Godspeed Joe Roland,” Jacksonville Beaches Info posted to Instagram. “Probably the biggest legend to ever come out of North Florida dies after a surf session in Ponte Vedra.”
According to the St. Augustine Record, Roland became the East Coast Surfing Association’s first men’s champion at age 17 and later competed in two world championships.
He would later become a computer programmer with the City of Jacksonville and maintained his ardor for surfing into his seventies.
“He was the happiest, nicest, mellowest guy,” longtime friend and local surf scribe Mitch Kaufmann told The Record. “He’s a Christian, and this is what everybody says about Joseph — he walked the walk. When it came to being a Christian, he was the real deal.”
The tragedy struck nearly a month after a Georgia woman nearly drowned in front of the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club.
Cathy Dowdy is still recovering at the Mayo Clinic after the October 13th incident, according to a Nov. 2 GoFundMe post.
Dowdy, a retired teacher, is showing signs of responsiveness, her family said.
The fundraising campaign has drawn more than $70,000 donations thus far.
