6 new inductees join Surfing Walk of Fame
Positive vibes filled the morning of the sixth day of the U.S. Open of Surfing Thursday as six iconic figures of surfing were honored for their contributions to the sport.
More than 100 people gathered in front of Jack’s Surfboards on Huntington Beach’s Main Street to watch and cheer as the honorees were immortalized in granite stones on the Surfing Walk of Fame.
The 2015 inductees are surfers Sofia Mulanovich, Paul Strauch, Reno Abellira and John Boozer, Surfing magazine co-founder Dick Graham and surf culture icon David Nuuhiwa Sr.
Nuuhiwa, known for starting the tradition of blessing the waves before the U.S. Open of Surfing, died in 2005 at age 82 after a two-year battle with cancer. His daughter, Melody, and son, David Jr., accepted the award on his behalf.
“Our ohana is very grateful that he was chosen this year for the honor roll, and we thank you for recognizing my father’s contributions to the surf industry,” Melody Nuuhiwa said. “I know he’s looking down from the heaven above and is very proud.”
Huntington Beach surfer Boozer also was honored posthumously. A member of the “Hole in the Wall Gang” surf team of the late 1960s and 1970s, Boozer died of cancer in 2004.
“He was a beautiful guy and he had a beautiful surfing style, man,” said Morghan Boozer, John’s wife, who accepted the award on his behalf. “He had a killer bottom turn and was really good to surf with.”
Mulanovich was unable to attend the ceremony because she was competing in a surfing event in Maldives. The Peruvian is the first South American to win a world surfing title.
International Surfing Assn. President Fernando Aguerre accepted the award for Mulanovich and said she was a pioneer for female surfers in Latin America: “She was the female George Washington of South American surfing.”
Graham co-founded Surfing magazine in 1964. Surf legend Peter “P.T.” Townend, who emceed Thursday’s ceremony, said it was because of Graham that he and other surfers had jobs in the industry.
Hawaii-born Abellira thanked the Walk of Fame committee for inducting him this year after he was nominated several times before. He said he was honored to enter the shrine with people he looks up to.
“I’m so stoked I got the nod this year,” he said.
Townend said Strauch, a longboard surfer credited with creating two maneuvers — the bottom turn and the “cheater five” — surfed with “nothing but style.”
On Friday, Huntington Surf and Sport will induct three surf legends — Gordon “Grubby” Clark, Clifton James “C.J.” Hobgood and John Davis — into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame. The ceremony begins at 10 a.m. at 300 Pacific Coast Hwy. in Huntington Beach.