LEGENDARY LEADERS
You can't throw a seashell in a Southern California beach town without hitting a surfshop, but the first was opened in Manhattan Beach in 1950. Dale Velzy was the first to open a store after complaints about his board-shaping and repair activities under the pier forced him to look for a new location. He found a former shoe repair shop nearby and transferred his operation there. In 1950-51, the wetsuit was invented by Hugh Bradner, a physicist associated with the UC Berkeley, who was looking to improve on the equipment used by the U.S. Navy. The first wetsuit companies supplying surfers were O'Neill, founded by Jack O'Neill in Santa Cruz and Body Glove, founded by Bob Meistrell in Manhattan Beach. 1958: Though not the first to make foam and fiberglass boards, Hobie Alter and Gordon Clark have success making polyurethane surfboard blanks and fiberglass boards. 1959: John Severson starts “The Surfer,” the world's first surfing magazine. It evolves into Surfer Magazine.
Sources: The California Surf Museum, Surfer Today, National Geographic, Surfline.com, “The History of Surfing,” by Matt Warshaw 1969: Corky Carroll and Margo Godfrey win the first world surfing title at the Smirnoff World Pro-Am Championships. 1980: Simon Anderson creates the "Thruster" surfboard fin system. 1982: Ian Cairns founds the Association of Surfing Professionals. 1983: Michael Ho wins the first edition of the Triple Crown of Surfing in Hawaii. 1984: Glen Hening and Tom Pratte found the Surfrider Foundation. 1985: Surfline forecasting service is founded by Jerry Arnold, Craig Masuoka, and David Wilk with daily forecast prepared by Sean Collins. 1992: Kelly Slater wins his first of 11 ASP World Tour titles. 1998: Ambidextrous big wave surfer, Jeff Clark holds the first Mavericks Surf Contest. 2016: The International Olympic Committee votes unanimously for the inclusion of surfing in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The Games have been postponed due to the global pandemic.