Seltzer made his legend in the sand

JERRY PERSON

This week we are going to look at the personal and professional side

of a man who created a legend in our city.

It was in May 1965 that a group of Huntington Beach police

officers were handpicked for a special duty to benefit our community.

These officers would be sent to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department

training academy for training by some of the best instructors in the

science of riot control.

Included in this elite group of officers were John Berens, Bill

Bruce, Jerry Crusinberry, Chuck Hollingsworth, Monty McKennon, Roger

Maltby, Ed Pratt, Don Tryon and Gil Veine.

After completing their training at the academy, these men would be

put to the test in a very short time and would become symbols of

pride for our community. This team of men would forever be known as

Seltzer’s Sandmen, true legends in their own time.

The man behind this legendary unit of elite officers was Police

Chief John Seltzer, and it is his life that we will be remembering

this week.

Seltzer was born in 1905. When he was 15 years old, his family

came to live in Huntington Beach, where he would remain for the rest

of his life. Our town was a much different place to live then with a

population of only 1,800 people, but that would change with the

arrival of the oil boom of the 1920s.

Seltzer attended and graduated from Huntington Beach High School.

In June 1937, Chief Les Grant hired Seltzer as a desk relief man

at our police department, and in less than a year, Seltzer was

appointed as a full-time desk officer.

By then, the city’s population had increased to 6,000, and the

32-year old Seltzer was the seventh man in the department. Not long

after that, two more officers were added to the force.

Seltzer would spend his first four years manning the desk before

he was able to enter the field.

When Grant passed away on May 12, 1941 at the age of 42, Seltzer

got a new boss when Don Blossom was appointed by the City Council as

the new police chief. At that point, the department included Gene

Belshe, Gayle Bergey, Clarence Double, E. “Fuzzy” Errington, Owen

Mosier, Alfred Parker, Howard Robidoux and Jack Tinsley, along with

Blossom and Seltzer.

For the next nine years, Seltzer was a familiar sight Downtown. By

the end of World War II, patrol cars replaced shoe leather and FM

radios were installed in police cars, which made reaching the scene

of a crime much faster.

In August 1946, Seltzer was part of an 11-man police force. By

1949, the department grew to 17 men.

In June of 1950 we had a new police chief in Ben Dulaney. He

quickly reorganized the department and Seltzer was promoted to the

rank of lieutenant. Seltzer reached the rank of captain by the time

that Dulaney died Oct. 8, 1958, from injuries suffered in a car

accident.

Seltzer was appointed acting chief by the City Council. Nearly

everyone who knew him expected the council to appoint Seltzer as

full-time chief, but the council members put the appointment into the

hands of the State Personnel Board.

After several people took the exam, Westminster’s Police Chief

Clint Wright was selected, and began his term as chief on Nov. 3,

1958.

One more chief would take the helm before Seltzer would receive

the job that he should have gotten in 1958. Robidoux became chief in

April 1962, but died suddenly on June 17, 1964.

Seltzer was again appointed by the City Council as acting police

chief. Only this time, he didn’t have to worry and the council

appointed him July 15, 1964 to fill out Robidoux’s term.

On July 5, 1965, a riot erupted on our beach. Because of Seltzer’s

trained Sandmen standing their ground, the rioters were quickly

disbanded.

A second beach riot occurred in a hot August of the same year. It

was Seltzer’s elite Sandmen who arrested the ringleaders and

dispersed the mob. Seltzer and his men were now on their way of

becoming legends.

As our city grew, so did our police force. By 1966, we had more

than 60 men under Seltzer. It was in 1969 that the helicopter patrol

was created under Seltzer, with the first patrol from the air

starting on June 16, 1969.

After 32 years of service to his city, John Seltzer retired from

the police department on July 31, 1969.

An avid horseman, Seltzer could now spend more time on his

favorite hobby of caring for his horses. For many years, he was a

familiar sight, riding his horse in our Fourth of July parade.

Seltzer and his wife Mamie would raise three boys and one girl.

They lived at 616 7th St.

While caring for his horses at a stable at Main and Clay streets,

Seltzer suffered a heart attack. The legend passed away on April 4,

1972.

Because of his efforts as chief of police, our city can boast of

having the finest men and women in law enforcement anywhere.

* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach

resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box

7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.