Opening today, July 26, the Lexus U.S. Open of Surfing is the largest and most attended surfing event in the world and runs through Aug. 3 in Huntington Beach. The city truly becomes what its nickname implies, “Surf City.” This week it’s all about surfing.
It all started in 1959 as the West Coast Surfing Championship and then morphed into the United States Championship in 1961. By the mid-1960s, when ABC Wide World of Sports put it on national television, this event had already taken its place as the biggest and most attended competition in surfing. It all took place over one weekend in those days.
Along with the surfing competition going on at the pier, there are several other important events happening in the surrounding areas. One of the most important of all is the annual Surfer’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony. This year it will be held at 9 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 1 in the plaza on the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Main Steet. Fittingly, under the shadow of the big Duke Kahanamoku statue and across the street from Duke’s Restaurant, directly in front of Huntington Surf & Sport.
This event has always been kinda near and dear to my heart as I was there and kind of involved in the beginning. Local surfer and owner of HSS, Aaron Pai, called me up one morning and asked me to meet him in the parking garage under the building. He laid out his idea for a hall of fame and had a slab of concrete laid out. It was a cold winter morning, and the day my youngest son, Tanner, was born. Sticks out in my memory bank.
He wanted to try it out on me. Not long after, there was a big surfing industry convention going on in Long Beach. Aaron brought the cement crew down there and I went through the convention picking out the biggest surf celebrities and getting them into the parking lot to get their hands and feet into the concrete slabs. These were then laid as the original floor when HSS opened its new extension to the store, which was then the “longboard room” and Java Point coffee.
When the plaza in front of the store was finished, it became the permanent home to the hall of fame. The greatest names in the sport and industry are featured in the array of concrete imprints there. Which brings us to this year’s inductees. The trio of Caroline Marks, Dwight Dunn and Tom Servais will be honored.
I featured legendary surf photographer Tom Servais in my last column. Today I want to tell you about Caroline and Dwight.
Caroline is originally from Florida, but makes her home in nearby San Clemente now. She has all the most important credentials for this honor. Winner of the U.S. Open of Surfing at 17 years old. Not long after that, she joined the World Surfing League tour and took home the world championship at Trestles in 2023. The next year, Caroline won gold in the Paris Olympics, which were actually held in Tahiti. Most recently, she was named “Waterperson of the Year” at the annual Surfing Industry Members Association’s Waterman’s Ball in June.
Dwight is a local Huntington Beach icon. He learned to surf with his brothers, Jack and Paul, right there in the shadows of the Huntington Beach Pier and evolved to join the Infinity Surf Team by the time he was 16. He was later given a job by Infinity and learned the trade of building boards and the business end of marketing and selling surfing equipment. His surfing skills and popularity led him to partner with Carl Hayward in Carl Hayward Surfboards.
Dwight got deeper into the surfing industry when he went to work with Bob Hurley in both his surfboard business and in the growing of Billabong USA. Then, in 1999, when Hurley launched his own brand, Dwight stuck with him and worked there until he retired in 2017. A lifetime surfer and industry survivor. The true version of “local boy makes good.”
If you have an interest in surfing, and are anywhere near Huntington Beach on Friday, I highly recommend you head on over and check out this event. It’s free and open to the public. And, always chock-full of great surfers and surfing celebrities of all kinds. You never know who you might meet. Very cool event to attend.