In 2017, surfing pastor Sumo Sato helps host the induction ceremony for the Surfers’ Hall of Fame in Huntington Beach. The accomplished surfer survived a shark attack in 2003. (File photo by Nick Agro, Orange County Register/SCNG)
By LAYLAN CONNELLY | [email protected] | Orange County Register
Blaine “Sumo” Sato became known around town as the “Surfers’ Savior.”
The Hawaiian surfing pastor with the long, white beard and big, boisterous laugh lost his battle with colon cancer Sunday, March 11, surrounded by family and friends at his home in Huntington Beach. Sumo, as he was known by most people, was 55.
“He was just the most inspirational guy, it seemed like he closed the gap between good and bad and right and wrong,” said friend Rick “Rockin’ Fig” Fignetti, who got to say goodbye to Sato on Sunday. “It didn’t matter if someone was the mayor or they could be a homeless person — everyone was the same to him. He tried to help everyone out. He just had the biggest heart.”
Sato, a longtime pastor who ran the H20 church out of the International Surfing Museum, also served as the Huntington Beach Marine Safety lifeguard chaplain and in 2016 was inducted into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame at Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway, his imprints reading “TRUST GOD.”
And even in the hardest of times, through the pain that came with the cancer that spread through his body, he did.
“He was one tough guy, he was a warrior,” Fignetti said. “I think of all the pain. I never heard him complain once. He always kept his faith, never said ‘why me’.”