Paul Geiger grew up surfing at Honolii and never left the water even when he moved to Chicago.
The 1984 St. Joseph graduate played tennis, was on the swimming and diving team and won the BIIF diving title as a freshman. He also bowled for a year, but the waves at Honolii kept calling him back. He played Little League baseball, but when he turned 12 years old, he returned to surfing.
In the curious case of where are they now?, Geiger, 53, owns a law practice in Chicago, where he still surfs and enjoys the heartache of being a Bears fan.
He and his wife Maureen have two children, Paul, who’s about to graduate from Minnesota and Maddie, who’s at San Diego.
Like most Bears fans, he laments general manager Ryan Pace’s decision to draft Mitch Trubisky over Pat Mahomes and Deshaun Watson. Geiger can take a bit of comfort that the Chicago Cubs broke the Curse of the Billy Goat and won the 2016 World Series. He’s also a fan of the White Sox — which is sort of like being a football fan of UH-Manoa and BYU — the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks.
“We got Billy Donovan on the Bulls,” Geiger said. “I like all the Chicago teams, but I’m definitely a Bears fan.”
Geiger does wage and hour class-action cases through the federal court system.
“I make sure people get paid, particularly overtime in the federal court system,” he said. “I do a lot of labor work. For 11 years, I was general counsel for the police union in Chicago.”
He grew up under the watchful care of his parents, the late Dr. Paul W. Geiger and Jen, who now lives in Florida, two sisters and a brother, Hans, who has his own production company in Hollywood.
It was a much different and simpler time when he attended St. Joseph, which filled him with fun memories.
“I remember St. Joseph was an awfully fun place to go to school. I really enjoyed myself every day. It was very much a community,” he said. “I remember I went to a Halloween dance, dressed as a witch and nobody knew who I was. My biology teacher was Andrew Yuen and I remembered I surfed with him at Honolii. There aren’t too many places you surf with a teacher. It was the perfect place to grow up.”
After Geiger graduated from college in Chicago, he was aimless, working but not going anywhere. His mom told him to take the LSAT test. Geiger did and got into law school. His life turned around shortly thereafter.
“That was that. I married a local girl and here I am. I’m still trying to get back to Hawaii one day,” he said. “In my senior year of law school, I started dating my wife, got married, and settled down here. The funny thing is I used to dread the winter. But it’s far and away the best season for surfing.”
Geiger started a club, Chicago Waveriders, which has 550 members. Mostly, members hit Facebook to connect on the latest surfing date and post videos.
“There’s a huge surf scene here,” he said. “I tried it in college in the ‘80s with a short board. I didn’t pick it up again until eight or nine years later. My neighbor was into it big time. I was like, ‘Whatever dude.’ Sure enough, I got back into it.
“Chicago, it’s fresh water. You don’t have to worry about sharks. The waves are sand bottom. There’s a lot less juice than Hawaii.”
There’s one catch about surfing in Chicago, especially during the winter.
“The waves won’t kill you. It’s the cold that will kill you,” Geiger said. “We wear a lot of gear, boots, hoods. We’re covered from head to toe. You go out in 15 degree weather and put your head in 35 degree water and it hurts. It’s like an ice cream headache times 10.”
When his children were young, the family used to visit Hawaii every year. When they hit high school, the destination changed to Europe. Now that they’re in college, it’s Hawaii again. Geiger last visited the 50th state six years ago.
His son will graduate with a biology degree and volunteered at a charity that serves inner-city Hispanics.
“He loves it,” Geiger said. “Maybe, he’ll work for a nonprofit. It’s fine by me as long as he’s happy.
“My daughter is studying behavioral science. She can tear up the ukulele. She’s self-taught. Both of them speak Spanish.”
Geiger has a lot on his plate, thinking about a long-awaited return to home on the Big Island, lamenting the Bears’ perennial misfortune and surfing in cold water. When he goes home and shakes off the cold, Geiger can enjoy his Chicago sports teams.
“I love NFL football,” he said. “I like both baseball teams, the Cubs and White Sox. I like the White Sox ownership better. I hate the DH (designated hitter) rule. It’s a terrible rule. I like the National League more than the American League.
“When I was a kid, I’d watch the Braves or Cubs. Those were the only teams on the channels on TV.”
Those were the days for Geiger, who’s reminded that surfing at Honolii was where everything stared for him.