Barry Napoleon was born in 1929 in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father, Walter Napoleon, was the Captain of the lifeguards at the War Memorial Natatorium at Waikiki. Barry grew up following his father to work at the beach, and began working as a beachboy in 1952 after attending college in California and Utah. He worked as a beachboy, beach concession owner, and surfboard manufacturer for the next 30 years. Barry details his times on the beach in his memoir, The Keepers of the Sand.
