CHRIS HAWK 1951-2009

Chris Hawk, the renowned surfer and shaper who was inducted into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame last month, died of cancer Friday at the age of 58.

Along with his brothers, Sam and Tom, Hawk won a reputation as a skilled surfer during the 1960s and 70s. To many, though, he was more famous for shaping boards — a craft that involves taking a piece of foam or wood and carving it into a surfboard shape, which is then coated in glass to waterproof it.

Gary Sahagen, the executive director of the International Surfing Museum in Huntington Beach, said Hawk played an integral role in what he termed “the short board revolution” of the 70s, in which surfers began trading in their long boards for new ones that were two or three feet shorter.

“As the short board revolution of surfboards took off, he was riding that front wave, coming up with some of the most innovative designs,” Sahagen said.

Hawk was inducted into the Hall of Fame in a special ceremony that brought hundreds of people to Huntington Surf and Sport at the corner of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway. The Hall of Fame had already inducted its usual quota of four people in July, but made an exception for Hawk, who was suffering from terminal throat cancer.

“He was a true inspiration to all of us, and he’s meant so much to the sport of surfing in Huntington Beach and in California through the way that he surfed the waves and shaped his surfboards,” said Aaron Pai, the owner of Huntington Surf and Sport. “We’ll miss Chris Hawk, but he’ll always be remembered.”

At the ceremony Sept. 18, Hawk spoke briefly to the crowd and etched a message into a concrete slab. The message read simply, “Peace — Love — Surf.”

Afterward, Hawk held up his trophy and said the induction had been a lifelong dream.

“It’s the ultimate for me in my life,” Hawk said. “This is it.”

Monday, the concrete slab in front of Surf and Sport, which also features Hawk’s hand and footprints, was circled with flowers, candles and tributes written on sheets of paper. One read, “Best shaper in the world,” while another declared, “Chris, you caught the wave to heaven.”

Hawk’s ex-wife, Kathy Hawk Margerum, who divorced him in 1979 but remained close over the years, said Hawk was humbled by the attention he received in the weeks before his death.

“He was a very independent, just a very simple man with a beautiful soul,” she said. “All this attention that’s being bestowed on him, believe me, he didn’t know people thought that much about him. I’m so grateful he got to hear all that and know all that before he went.”

Bob Ballou, a surfer and longtime friend of Hawk, has scheduled a paddle-out in his memory at 11 a.m. Sunday on the north side of the Huntington Beach Pier. The paddle-out is open to everyone. Hawk would be remembered as a surfer and shaper, Ballou said, but also as a compassionate friend who often served as a “big brother” to aspiring surfers.

“I think he tried to take everybody at face value and accept them at face value,” he said. “He was just a warm guy. He was my friend. I loved him.”

Pat Lien, the manager of Chuck Dent Surfboards in Huntington Beach, said Hawk had a reputation as a master craftsman.

“In the 80s, he was the guy the locals wanted their boards made by,” he said. “You were kind of somebody if you had his board in the water.”

Hawk is survived by his son, brothers and sister.