‘California Kid’ joins Surfers’ Hall of Fame class

The “California Kid” Joey Buran will join previously announced inductees Jeff Hakman, Bruce Brown and Pat O’Connell as the 2009 inductees into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame.

Buran, a former Pipeline Masters champion and the first California surfer to win a World Tour event, will have his foot and handprints forever immortalized in the concrete in front of Huntington Surf & Sport.

“Everyone is so stoked, including me,” said Surfers’ Hall of Fame founder Aaron Pai. “Joey Buran is the ‘California Kid’ and he showed us how to surf Pipe back in the day. Joey has done so much for our sport of surfing in the past and is still contributing to our sport today as the coach of the USA surf team. We are very much honored to be able to induct Joey Buran into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame.”

Buran started the Professional Surfing Assn. of America in the mid-1980s, and is currently a pastor at Worship Generation Orange County church in Fountain Valley. The Costa Mesa resident is also head coach of the U.S. national team.

The free-of-charge induction ceremony is at 10 a.m. July 24 at the corner of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway. For more information, visit hsssurf.com/hall.

— Matt Szabo