Surf Community Packs SHACC for 'Stand Tall With Eli' Fundraiser
The Laguna Beach Surf Club's Saturday-night benefit and auction supported local surfer Eli Viszolay, who is undergoing high-dose chemotherapy for a stage 3 germ-cell tumor.
Billed by the Laguna Beach Surf Club as its 2026-2027 membership rally, and described by SURFER as organized by the Laguna Beach Boardriders Club, the Saturday-night event drew a packed house to the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center (SHACC) for the "Stand Tall With Eli" benefit and auction in support of local surfer Eli Viszolay and his cancer treatment.
The club's event posts billed the evening, held from 6 to 9 p.m. at SHACC in Laguna Beach, as a benefit night for Viszolay alongside the club's 2027 season launch, with music, surf stories, a live auction and DJ Sli Dawg. Legendary surfer and museum founder Dick Metz was presented as the club's honorary chairman, and entry was free with an RSVP.
SURFER, reporting on the night Oct. 6, called the premiere of a new short film the emotional high point: the film traces Viszolay's cancer journey alongside footage of him surfing in Hawaii, Fiji, Tahiti, South America and Mexico.
"The most helpful thing that's got me through this is definitely the support of the community and my family and my friends," Viszolay says in the film, as quoted by SURFER. "You guys have shown me love, and I really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart."
Viszolay, described by SURFER as a Brooks Street standout, a Tavarua Island boatman and a beloved local surf instructor, was diagnosed with a rare and serious stage 3 non-seminoma germ-cell tumor. On the family's GoFundMe page, "Standing with Eli During His Treatment," his sister Marissa Viszolay-Cook says he found the tumor through an MRI in November 2025, began chemotherapy in mid-December that continued through March, and in June started TCIE high-dose chemotherapy followed by a stem-cell transplant, leaving him in and out of the hospital through the end of the year with an anticipated inability to work until June 2027.
The live auction lineup, announced by the club, included a trip for two to the Tavarua Island Resort, a session for two at the Kelly Slater Surf Ranch, and a Kanoa Igarashi surfboard, and the club encouraged donations and memberships through the night.
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