Of Irish and Hawaiian descent, George Freeth is probably best remembered as the surfer who first brought the sport from Hawaii to the United States mainland. In 1907, he was hired by a railroad company to perform his skills in Redono Beach, California in order to attract customers. He taught the first Californians how to surf. |
Ford taught Jack London how to surf in 1907. London was one of the most popular writers of his time and was so taken by surfing, that he wrote magazine articles about it and included the sport in his books. In 1910, he founded the Outrigger Canoe Club at Waikiki. |
The Father of the modern era of surfing. A full-blooded Polynesian and a surfer international celebrity by setting world records in the hundred yard and 100 meter freestyle swimming events. He won gold medals in the 1912 and 1920 Olympics. He barnstormed the mainland, captivating the crowds with his surfing skills in California, New York and New Jersey. He was the first to surf the east coast and introduce the sport to Australia. He is without a doubt the most influential surfer of all time. | |
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Tom Blake Until 1926, surfboards had been made out of wood. The boards were big and heavy, up to 150 pounds. They had no fin and maneuvering them was practically impossible. Blake designed and built the first hollow surfboard in 1926. He got the weight down to 40-50 pounds and in 1935, attached the fin to a board. He was also the first person to surf Malibu. | |
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A great surfer who went on to help invent the narrow-tail ''hot curl" surfboard and was among the first to ride the waves on Hawaii's north shore. Later on he organized the annual Makaha Surf Contest, which became one of the most successful contests in the world. | |
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Preston 'Pete' Peterson was the best mainland surfer of the time; in 1932, 1936, 1938 and 1941 he won the Pacific Coast Surfing Championship. In June 1946, Pete, with the help of Brant Goldsworthy, was the first person to build a fiberglass surfboard. | |
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Whitey and Pete were two of California's early lifeguards and great friends. In the early 30's they surfed all over the south shore of Oahu. In 1937, Pacific Ready Cut Homes, the first company to produce commercial surfboards, employed Whitey to shape boards for it. | |
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Woody Brown was an innovator. He fell in love with flying and hung around Curtis Airfield, on Long Island, New York, where Charles Lindberg was preparing for his historic trans-Atlantic flight in 1927. He helped Lindberg before he took off to Paris. In 1939, Woody flew his glider and set the world distance record with a 263 mile flight. Woody came to the Hawaiian Islands shortly after big wave surfing began in the 30's. He was one of the first to surf the big waves of Oahu's North Shore. In 1946 Woody designed and built the first catamaran. | |
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In 1949, Simmons built a board from styrofoam sandwiched between plywood and sealed with resin and fiberglass. These boards were relatively light, easily transportable, and maneuverable. The most significant contribution he made was the scarfed nose lift that stopped the board from pearling. | |
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Young is recognized as one of the great surfers in the history of the sport. He won the World Championship in 1966 in California, the Smirnoff Contest in Hawaii in 1972, was several times Australian Junior and Open Champion, and won the first Open Championships at Bondi at the age of 15. | |
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