Community leaders mourn death of Myrtle Beach icon Clay Brittain Jr.

Community leaders are mourning the death of a Myrtle Beach icon and pioneer who helped transform the city into a tourism mecca and premier golf destination - a man leaders looked up to, schools admired and many said they will miss.

Clay Dwight Brittain Jr. took his last breath Wednesday night. He was 86 and had spent a lifetime making friends and creating memories his loved ones now cherish.

“He was an iconic man in Myrtle Beach,” Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes said, adding Brittain’s name to the names of other men like Jim Hackler, who left indelible marks on the city. Brittain “is among those great leaders in our community that have now left us and it will be a tremendous void. But the Brittain family will continue to carry on that legacy” he envisioned.

Brittain helped grow the Grand Strand’s tourism and golf industries with ownership in such iconic properties as the oceanfront Sea Captain’s House, the historic Chesterfield Inn and Arnold Palmer-designed golf courses that drew golfers from around the world. His business ventures grew into Brittain Resorts & Hotels - an enterprise now managed by his children who oversee a portfolio of 17 companies that include resorts, restaurants and Myrtle Beach National Golf Co. that Brittain helped form.

“More importantly than all of that in terms of what he accomplished and contributed as far as his business acumen and the founder of golf packaging, his family legacy continues as superior business people in this marketplace,” said Myrtle Beach Councilman Wayne Gray. “But beyond all of that Clay Brittain had a love for humanity and he dedicated more of his life, of his property, of his success to making sure that others in this community who weren’t as fortunate who had challenges, had equal opportunity.”

That, Gray said, is Brittain’s greatest legacy. Beyond the sky-high resorts and rolling green golf courses stood a man with a heart for his community, friends say.

Brittain gave “his time, his gifts, his talent, his whole being ... to serve our schools, our churches, our nonprofits that are here to serve our fellow man. That to me was his ultimate gift to this community,” Gray said.

Brittain helped organize the first Boys & Girls Club in Myrtle Beach and turned his humanitarian efforts to a young Coastal Carolina University, helping the school expand its professional golf management program into one endorsed by the Professional Golfers’ Association of America.

“If you look at the overall economic growth in this area over the past 15 to 20 years, it wouldn’t have been possible without him. He was big man in this area for a long time,” said Delan Stevens, CCU Board of Trustees member.

Brittain was born Dec. 18, 1929 in Winston-Salem, N.C., son of the late Clay Dwight Brittain and Alma Chapman Brittain. He grew up in the Old North State, working as a paper boy and soda jerk at a local drugstore in Graham, N.C., before taking a summer job at 15 to assist his uncle’s construction crew in building the Chesterfield Inn in Myrtle Beach, according to his obituary.

The summer after his first year in college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Brittain started his first Myrtle Beach business venture - Clay’s Beach Service, renting beach umbrellas and chairs to hotel guests.

“He started that kind of service on the beach as part of the hotel and others followed his lead,” said Steve Chapman, whose grandfather, Brittain’s uncle, the late Steven Chapman, started the Chesterfield Inn.

Brittain was a lifeguard by day and a desk clerk at the Chesterfield by night.

And by the age of 21, Brittain was managing the hotel, and years later it was under his ownership.

With the help of his uncle, Steven Chapman, Brittain purchased the Second Avenue fishing pier in 1953, only to see it destroyed by Hurricane Hazel the following year. But the two rebuilt the pier and traded it in for an oceanfront cottage that they turned into the famed Sea Captain’s House - still in operation by the Brittain family five decades later.

Exhibiting a clear knack for the hospitality industry and tourism, Brittain worked with others to form Myrtle Beach National Golf Co., leading a group of hoteliers in building and acquiring golf courses. He also partnered to form Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday, a marketing cooperative formed in 1967 with the goal of promoting the area as the world’s premier golf destination, according to the Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame.

The campaign caught the attention of world-renowned golf legend Arnold Palmer, who designed three of Myrtle Beach National’s golf courses with Francis Duane. The growth in fairways helped expand the city’s tourism season, Chapman said, adding that his cousin was a “pioneer.”

Brittain went on to serve as president of both Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday and the Myrtle Beach Area Golf Course Owners Association. Several more business ventures would bear his name in his lifetime as he worked to bring new life to the coast.

“He was one of the Grand Strand’s leaders,” Rhodes said. “He was really involved in Myrtle Beach and the growth of it. … Whenever there was something that was needed in this community you could count on Mr. Brittain coming through” and being a part of helping meet the need.

Brittain had served on several boards, including the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, the local school board and the Coastal Carolina Education Foundation. He helped organize the Boys & Girls Club in Myrtle Beach and in 2000, received the state’s highest civilian honor - the Order of the Palmetto - from former Gov. Jim Hodges.

“Clay Brittain and his passion in supporting the community, especially youth programs is by far, some of the greatest acts of humanitarianism,” said Dione Buonto, interim executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of the Grand Strand. “His love for his community continues to be transcended through his family and their acts of kindness. The Boys & Girls Club of the Grand Strand is blessed to have the support of the Brittain family, and consider them a part of our club family.”

In 1995, Brittain was named an honorary founder of Coastal Carolina University, and in 1997, he received the Jason Ammons Free Enterprise Award from the Wall College of Business, according to the university.

“At some point, Clay Brittain and [longtime CCU leader] Bill Baxley were Coastal Carolina University. His passing leaves a terrible void at this school. We lost a great supporter of CCU,” CCU President David DeCenzo said.

In 2001, Coastal Carolina University named its new Center for Resort Tourism after Brittain. Eight years later, Brittain became one of the inaugural inductees into the Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame.

“Clay Brittain Jr. was a true visionary who became a patriarch of tourism for the Myrtle Beach area,” said Brad Dean, president and CEO of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. “He was gracious, humble, optimistic, philanthropic, and (was) recognized as a great collaborator. His years of involvement with the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce created a tremendous impact on the tourism industry and more through his involvement in both economic development and job creation.”

The family will receive friends from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday at McMillan-Small Funeral Home, 910 67th Avenue North, Myrtle Beach.

Funeral services will be at 3 p.m. Saturday at First United Methodist Church. A private burial will be at Ocean Woods Memorial Cemetery.

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 12:22 PM with the headline "Community leaders mourn death of Myrtle Beach icon Clay Brittain Jr.."