Icons to be honored at Huntington Beach Surfing Walk of Fame announced

July 2nd, 2008, 10:21 am · Post a Comment · posted by Laylan Connelly, staff writer

The list of surfing greats who will be honored this year at the Huntington Beach Surfing Walk of Fame celebration was just released, a list naming a diverse group of icons with various surfing backgrounds.

The Surfing Walk of Fame’s ceremony honors individuals who have made significant contributions to the sport and culture of surfing, and will be held at 10 a.m. July 24 in front of Jack’s Surfboards. The Walk of Fame, started in 1994, honors surfing legends in six different categories every year.

This year’s honorees include Andy Irons, Rich Chew, Lynn Boyer, Wayne Lynch, Buzzy Trent and Drew Kampion. The six founding members of the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA) will earn a place on the Walk of Fame’s Honor Roll.

Those selected were chose by an international panel of surfers.

Here’s a quick bio of each surfer:

Andy Irons (Surfing Champion): Reared on the dangerous and shallow reefs of Kauai, Irons’ was a standout amateur in the ’90s. While he may have struggled after turning pro in 1998, Irons hunger for victory led him to win three consecutive ASP World Titles, four Vans Triple Crown awards, two Pipeline Masters crowns and two U.S. Open of Surfing titles, the first of which came 10 years ago (1998) making him eligible for the Walk of Fame ballot.

Wayne Lynch (Surf Pioneer): An Australian goofy-foot and articulate spokesman for the sport, Lynch broke the regular-foot stranglehold on progressive surfing in the late 1960s. He gained a reputation as a progressive, experimental surfer who did things going backside that no one else could do. Lynch is among a small group credited with pushing the sport from the longboard stateliness of the early ’60s to the shortboard performance revolution of the ’70s.

Buzzy Trent (Surf Pioneer): Trent was a fearless adventurer who fought bulls in Tijuana, boxed and attended USC on scholarship before gaining fame as one of the legendary pioneers of big-wave surfing. He shot to the forefront of the Hawaiian big-wave frenzy in the late 1950s, earning a heavy reputation among the heaviest in the business. Goodwin Murray Trent Jr. passed away on Sept. 26, 2006.

Rich Chew (Local Hero): Legendary pro surfer, lifeguard and ocean artist, Chew grew up in Seal Beach with boyhood surfing buddy Rich Harbor and attended Huntington Beach High School. Winner of several California contests and invitee to the prestigious Duke Kahanamoku Invitational, Rich recently retired from the San Clemente Lifeguards following three-plus decades of service.

Drew Kampion (Surfing Culture): The dean of surf scribes, Kampion is the first journalist to enter the Walk of Fame. Surfer, writer, editor and photographer, his distinguished body of work includes Editor-in-Chief of Surfing magazine and editorial stints and contributions to Surfer, The Surfers Journal and current editor of The Surfer’s Path along with penning The Book of Waves, Stoked! and A History of Surf Culture.

Lynn Boyer (Woman of the Year): Boyer set the women’s standard for fearless power surfing in big waves during the 1970s and ’80s, and along the way she won two world championships and engaged in titanic matches with fellow Hawaii surfer Margo Oberg. An accomplished artist, the long-time islander often captures the beauty, serenity, and power of the Hawaiian landscapes and seascapes in her works.