Accomplished group inducted as Surfing Walk of Fame turns 30
Sally Fitzgibbons surfs her first heat of the U.S. Open of Surfing on Friday.
A day before entering the water, the Australian surfing veteran earned a big honor just a stone’s throw away — on Main Street, in front of Jack’s Surfboards.
Fitzgibbons was one of several standouts inducted into the Huntington Beach Surfing Walk of Fame on Thursday morning, as it celebrated its 30th anniversary.
Fitzgibbons, named as the Woman of the Year inductee, is now 33. She was emotional during her speech, noting that she would typically greet the ceremony’s attendees with a “G’Day, Huntington Beach.”
“I’m going to give this a whirl, ‘Aloha, Huntington Beach!,’” said Fitzgibbons, who counts the 2011 U.S. Open among her 12 World Tour wins and is a three-time world runner-up.
She got emotional when talking about the Collins family, who she said really embraced her as she often came to the Southern California shoreline.
Sean Collins, Surfline founder, died in 2011 after a heart attack.
“It was those long drives from Seal Beach up here to to the Surfline offices where I talked story with Sean,” Fitzgibbons said. “Half the time, he wouldn’t understand me at all ... but I would camp out on the balcony out there and run over and surf, warm up in the sun and try to learn about forecasting in-between.
“It was at every turn, though, you guys, the community and the people of Huntington Beach would stop and take care of me ... It’s not a scary town anymore. I don’t cry when I come here.”
Jeff Deffenbaugh, a Huntington Beach local who was inducted into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame last week, got the double celebration as he was the Local Hero inducted into the Surfing Walk of Fame.
Longtime surfboard shaper Bing Copeland was inducted as Surf Pioneer, with Peruvian Felipe Pomar inducted as Surf Champion. Doug Warwick and Brian Singer, the founders of popular surfing brand Rip Curl, were inducted in the Surf Culture category, while surfer, shaper and “The Endless Summer” co-star Mike Hynson earned an Honor Roll nod.
Copeland opened Bing Surfboards in Hermosa Beach in 1959, before licensing the brand and moving with his family to Idaho. However, South Bay shaper Matt Calvani has been creating replica Bing surfboards, with Copeland’s blessing, since 2000.
“The first time I surfed Huntington was probably 1950,” Copeland said. “In those days ... we were riding Simmons boards. The board I had was 10-feet long, 24-inches wide, 4 inches thick. It weighed 40 pounds. I weighed not much more. With those boards, you could fall down, but not off.”
Pomar, the 1965 World Surfing Champion, encouraged attendees to surf until they were 100 years old. He founded Surf Till 100 with Tom Woods and Jeff Hakman.
“Health is wealth,” said Pomar, 80. “Surfing gives us great health and great happiness. There have already been exceptional people who have been surfing into their late 80s and 90s, and there is no reason why we can’t do better.”
Sanoe “Sunny” Kazama from Hawaii was also recognized as the recipient of the MacAllister award as a collaboration between the Walk of Fame, the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum and the National Scholastic Surfing Assn.
Kazama earned the MacAllister, in memory of Don MacAllister, as the outstanding high school surfer for her service to the community. She received a scholarship of $4,000.
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