A wave of hometown pride filled Huntington Beach’s Main Street for the Surfing Walk of Fame induction on Thursday, July 31, an annual event during the US Open of Surfing that honored several local wave riders.
Peter “PT” Townend, surfing’s first world champion and the emcee for the day, marveled at how many people have had their granite stones placed along Main Street in front of Jack’s Surfboards since the inaugural event 31 years ago featuring just five plaques.
The latest induction added six more, making for more than 200 of the markers that honor influential wave riders from around the world.
“For me, every year, it’s just an honor to get up here and induct ‘the class’,” Townend said. “It’s great because you get to hear stories you’ve probably never heard.”
The first to take the stage was industry icon Greg Wade, whose career began decades ago in Huntington Beach at the Robert August Surf Shop, then Victory Wetsuits and later as an exec at Xcel Wetsuits.
Townend talked about knowing Wade since first arriving in Surf City in the 1970s. As an Honor Roll selection, Wade is the only among the group this year selected by a Walk of Fame board of directors, rather than ballot entry.
“He’s a mainstay of Huntington Beach surf culture,” Townend said.
Wade was joined on stage by grandson Colin Anderson, 13, a young up-and-coming surfer who rides waves at the same surf break Wade has for decades.
“It’s home, it’s 60 years of surfing this place, even longer than that,” Wade said after his induction. “It’s just amazing, the roots go so deep, and the roots are still going.”
Ryan Turner, another familiar face in the Huntington Beach surf scene, was honored as Local Hero, joining his brother Timmy, on the Walk of Fame.
“There isn’t anybody in this city, in this audience, that hasn’t eaten at the Sugar Shack,” Townend said, referring to the Turner family restaurant on Main Street where both brothers, and now their kids, grew up serving hearty meals to hungry surfers.
Turner, shy to take center stage, had his son Ryder, 14, speak to the crowd.
“My dad is so pumped to receive this Walk of Fame. He loves Huntington Beach and this community so much,” Ryder Turner said, reading his dad’s speech to the chuckle of the crowd. “He wants to thank you all. He thanks his wife, dad, mom, me, my brother, my sister and the family and friends for all the support. I’m so lucky to be raised here in HB.”
San Diego surfer Dale Dobson was honored as a “surf champion.” He dominated the scene in the late ’60s and ’70s, winning the United States Surfing Championship in 1972.
“He was just sensational with all the maneuvers he could do,” said longtime partner Sandi Sarber, who accepted the award for Dobson, who died earlier this year.
Dobson could ride anything – a shortboard, longboard, kneeboard, and was also a champion skateboarder.
“I remember him saying his board is like a paintbrush and the wave is his canvas. And he created masterpieces,” Sarber said.
Hawaiian surfer Barry Kanaiaupuni was honored as a “surf pioneer.” He is called the original Hawaiian power surfer, known for his groundbreaking, innovative approach to surfing Sunset Beach on Oahu’s North Shore.
He is known for his thin boards and strong power turns, Townend said. He was a regular at surf contests in Hawaii through the ’70s, winning many of them.
“We let the surfing do the talking,” said David Nuuhiwa, also a ’70s-era champion who now calls Huntington Beach home.
Kanaiaupuni made a video message for the ceremony.
Renowned surfboard maker Al Merrick was also honored, marveling at how many people turned out to the ceremony.
“This is my first time here, I didn’t realize how big it was going to be,” he said.
While he gets many of the accolades for being the shaper, there’s much more that happens behind the scene, he said, “I’d like to thank all the workers, and all the surfers.
“I got so blessed to shape for all these great surfers,” he added. “I learned so much from them. I appreciate all the love I’ve gotten from them. Thank you for all your support, I’m so honored for this award.”
The Santa Barbara board maker helped create equipment for some of the world’s best surfers through their careers, including three-time world champion Tom Curren, four-time women’s champion Lisa Anderson and 11-time world champion Kelly Slater.
Slater showed up to support, the crowd buzzing when they realized he was among the crowd.
The last inductee was Woman of the Year Nea Post, the first-ever female surfer from Huntington Beach to make it onto the World Tour, a two-time women’s champion who was twice selected for the U.S. National team.
Post talked about how fellow inductee Wade was her first sponsor, always supportive of women’s surfing.
Slater, who traveled to Barbados with her on the national team, remembers her head in the books. Throughout her surfing career, Post kept up with her schoolwork, even when she traveled for contests. She is now a physician in Huntington Beach.
“She was so responsible about her school work,” he said. “It was always known she was the best student of all the surfers.”
Post told a story on stage of how she was studying during a contest, stumped by a complex problem. Slater looked over her shoulder and gave her the answer.
“Two negatives make a positive,” Slater told her.
Now that her studying paid off, she said she gets to help the next generation.
“Although children comprise 22% of the population,” she said. “They are 100% of the future.”