I just got the information on this year’s inductees into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame, which will hold its annual induction ceremony at 10 a.m. Aug. 3 in the Hall of Fame plaza in front of Huntington Surf ‘n Sport, which is on the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street. (OK, try that in one breath.)
I always look forward to seeing who is going to get honored each year, hoping it will be one of my personal heroes who is not in yet. Last year, I was extremely pleased that George Downing was given the nod.
This year, the field includes another legendary Waikiki Beach Boy and one of the great surfers of all time, Rabbit Kekai. Along with Rabbit will be California groundbreaker Dane Reynolds and local legend Andy Verdone.
I was stoked to see Andy getting some love from the Hall of Fame people, as this dude has been a MAJOR influence on the local surf community for a very long time and deserves the acknowledgement. He has been the coach of the Huntington Beach High School surf team for 25 years and has been hands-on responsible for the development of some of the best surfers in the world who have come out of our local Huntington Beach surf scene.
Included on the list of stand outs that Andy has coached are current World Tour surfing professional Brett Simpson, the Deffenbaugh brothers, Shaun Ward, George “Mayor of Main Street” Lambert, Danny Nichols, Jay Larson and Micah Bryne. Over the years his program has netted no less than 10 national high school surfing team titles. He is known as the Phil Jackson of surf coaches.
Huntington Surf ‘n Sport owner, and founder of the Surfers’ Hall of Fame, Aaron Pai, states, “When considering Andy Verdone for induction, we had many of our grassroots community come out and support him because of his 25 years of coaching and supporting surfing, plus the impact that he has had on so many of the kids who live in this town!
“He has been a major positive force in taking our sport of surfing to the next level while telling the kids to stay in school, get good grades, stay away from drugs, go to college … he has been a great example to us all!
“He has impacted kids’ lives with his legendary surf trips around the world. I’ve seen him charge huge waves at Jeffry’s Bay in South Africa, Byron Bay in Australia and the north side of the Huntington Pier! We are stoked to be able to recognize and to thank Andy and these true surfing legends for their contributions and accomplishments.”
I agree with Aaron. It’s very cool to see one of the more-or-less “behind the scenes” guys, who has really contributed a lot and made such a huge difference, get some credit and the spotlight for a change.
Good on ya’ Andy — and also to the SHF committee for the choice.
Corky Carroll is a three-time international professional surfing champion and five-time overall U.S. champion. Send comments to corkysurf@aol.com.
