Long Beach surfer had a ‘big heart’

Twenty-eight-year-old Michael Connolly was known for lifting people’s spirits. “He had a big enough heart for everyone,” said Jimmy Zozzaro, a New York City police officer who met Connolly when they were both in fourth grade. “When we were 14 or 15 years old, he would take us to the city and he knew everywhere to go … and he always made friends. There’s a piece of us missing now.”

On Aug. 2, Connolly, who was known as Con, went into the city with his close friends to watch their buddy, local pro boxer Seanie Monaghan, fight at Roseland Ballroom. As they grew older, juggling careers and families made getting together harder, so Connolly and his friends took every opportunity to hang out together.

Connolly, a 2001 Long Beach High School graduate and an aspiring phys. ed. teacher, was in great spirits at the Monaghan fight, as hundreds of fans from Long Beach cheered the Irish pugilist on to victory. “We had a great time,” recalled Adam Warstadt. “Mike loved all sports. He could make anybody smile … he lit up a room.”

The next day, Connolly, Zozzaro and Zozzaro’s girlfriend headed to Lido Beach to catch some waves. “He loved being in the water, even if it was just for a minute,” Warstadt said of Connolly. “He was a big surfer, a longboarder. Roosevelt beach was his spot. If he could go out any way, that’d be the way he’d want to go.”

Just three days before his 29th birthday, Connolly died after he collapsed while surfing. He became physically distressed in the water at about 2:49 p.m., according to Chief of Lifeguards Paul Gillespie, who said that Connolly was sitting on his surfboard when witnesses saw him grab his chest and fall onto the board.

Several bystanders and lifeguards from the Lido Towers and the Long Beach Beach Patrol rushed to Connolly’s aid. Lifeguards administered CPR and used an automated external defibrillator in an attempt to revive him. “They did everything they could to try to help him,” Gillespie said.

Connolly was rushed to Long Beach Medical Center by members of the Fire Department, and was pronounced dead at 4:20 p.m.

“From what we gather, he did have a heart condition,” Gillespie said. “We didn’t receive any of the preliminary reports yet, but he might have had some kind of heart attack.”