When a representative of Surf Life Saving Australia met with Los Angeles County lifeguard leaders, Burnside was appointed to become the president of what was to be called the Surf Life Saving Association of America, created solely to compete in Australia at the first international lifesaving competition to be held there in conjunction with the 1956 Olympics.
The team brought Malibu balsa surfboards, which revolutionized surfing in Australia, where up to that time Australians were using boards made of hollow construction mahogany plywood.
In 1964, the Surf Life Saving Association of America was formally created as a nonprofit organization of professional beach lifeguards.
The following year, 1968, he toured the East Coast of the US in an effort to promote membership, broadening interest to help move the organization toward a true national base.
He was part of the first certified Los Angeles County Diving Scuba instructors and a longtime member of the department's Underwater Recovery Unit.