their stamp on surf city

Mike Sciacca

Amid a bustling beach crowd that walked along a busy stretch of Main

Street near the corner of Pacific Coast Highway, Steve Coleman was

crouched down at the sidewalk, hovering over a cemented plaque in

front of Jack’s Surfboards.

A week prior to when the Huntington Beach Surfing Walk of Fame,

the nation’s first sidewalk monument honoring surfing, was to induct

its 11th class, Coleman, with cleaning tool in hand, was busy

preparing the sidewalk for today’s 10 a.m. festivities.

“Every year, a week before the ceremony, we come out here and

clean ‘em up, re-highlight them and get the grime and gunk off these

plaques,” said Coleman, who works for Permeco, a granite and marble

wholesaler based in La Verne. “There’s been a lot of foot traffic

over these plaques in the past year, but we’ll have this place

looking sparkling clean for the big day.”

The Surfing Walk of Fame honors individuals who have made

significant contributions to the sport and culture of surfing. Adding

to the luster of the sidewalk monument today will be the names of the

2004 induction class: Charles “Corky” Carroll, Pat Curren, Gordon

“Grubby” Clark, Rich Harbour and Lisa Andersen.

Huntington Beach resident Meg Bernardo will receive Roll Call

recognition.

“With this year’s class, the Walk of Fame now has over 60 names in

Granite emblazoned on the sidewalk,” said Peter Townend, Walk of Fame

board member. “This ceremony is the longest, continuing

acknowledgment of its kind for surfing in North America.”

Each inductee receives a granite stone embedded in the sidewalk in

front of Jack’s Surfboards, located at the corner of Main Street and

Pacific Coast Highway.

Dedicated on May 28, 1994 by honoring Duke Kahanamoku as the

Father of Modern Surfing, the Huntington Beach Surfing Walk of Fame

became part of the city’s surfing culture.

Each year, the Walk of Fame’s selection committee conducts

research through surf associations, museums and media venues around

the world to compile a comprehensive ballot of qualified candidates.

An international panel of voters affiliated with the surf

community cast their votes in five categories.

The 2004 Surfing Walk of Fame induction class includes:

Corky Carroll

Surf Champion

Charles “Corky” Carroll still holds the record for most victories

of all time at the Huntington Beach Pier, and is the Surfing Walk of

Fame’s first-ever two-time inductee.

A much-decorated surfer, Carroll was a junior West Coast

Championship winner in 1963, finished third at the 1966 World

Championships and won the paddle race title at the 1964 U.S. Surfing

Championships.

He went on to win the 1967 Big Wave Championships in Peru, took

the 1968 World Small Wave Championships in Florida and captured five

consecutive U.S. Championships from 1966-70.

Carroll later branched out and learned to play the guitar and

recorded multiple record albums. He wrote two books, designed

surfboards, did some acting and stand-up comedy, managed a car

dealership, worked as both a ski instructor and tennis pro and spent

a near decade as the advertising director of Surfer magazine.

Today, the Huntington Beach resident runs the highly successful

Corky Carroll Surf School and does surf retailing at Huntington Surf

and Sport.

Carroll also starred in 13 Miller Lite television commercials.

Pat CurrenSurf Pioneer

Curren, who lives near Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, was a North Shore

pioneer, renowned big wave rider and revolutionary shaper. He’s the

father of Tom Curren, who preceded his father into the Surfing Walk

of Fame.

He also was a founding member of the notorious “Wind and Sea Surf

Club”

Rich Harbour

Local Hero

Harbor, a legendary surfboard manufacturer from Seal Beach, still

has a shop located on Main Street in Seal Beach.

As of this month, Harbour Surfboards has produced more than 26,000

boards.

Lisa Andersen

Woman of the Year

Andersen is a four-time world champion and former U.S. Open of

Surfing winner.

The Ormand Beach, Fla. resident and mother of two won her first

world title in 1994, then won three more after that, to become the

first surfer since Australian Mark Richards to win four consecutive

championships.

She appeared on the cover of the April 1996 issue of Surfer

magazine and was the second female surfer to make the cover in the

publication’s 40-year history.

Gordon “Grubby” Clark

Surfing Culture

Clark is a surfboard manufacturing pioneer whose foam blanks still

account for 90 percent of the surfboards made today.

Surfer magazine named Clark No. 10 on its 25 Most Influential

Surfers of the 20th Century.

Meg Bernardo

Honor Roll

Bernardo is administrator of Assn. of Surfing Professionals North

America and Surfing America.

Created in 1995, the Honor Roll pays tribute to those individuals

who have contributed to surfing and its culture, and are deserving of

recognition, but might not qualify to receive a stone on the Walk of

Fame.

“Meg has been the heart and soul of the ASP on the mainland since

1982,” Townend said. “She’s been instrumental in growing the sport

and helping guide the careers of several pros.”