Tally Ho
In Hawaii, Blears, a professional wrestler known as Lord “Tally-Ho” Blears was an announcer for multiple sporting competitions including the Waikiki Rough Water Swim and the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau big-wave surf contest. He was also a skilled waterman, surfer and canoe paddler. He is the father of former professional surfers Jim Blears 1972 World Champion and Laura Blears.
John Kelly Jr.
He and friend Wally Froiseth took an axe to the rear end of another friend's wide-tailed plank, narrowing the tail section and carving the planing surface into a rounded hull. The result was a new design called the "hot curl." It's credited as a development that led to the start of big-wave surfing. John invented the hydroplane surfboard and was one of the first surfers to ride the waves at Makaha;He was a decorated sailor and Juilliard School graduate who wrote books, conducted symphonies and spoke out against nuclear weapons. One of his most notable books was "Surf and Sea," 304 pages covering nearly every aspect of the sport. It was published in 1965.Yet it was his passion — for the ocean, for human rights, for environmental causes — that people will remember."He knew that if you stick together and educate the public about what's really going on and speak out, you can have victories," Kathleen Kelly said. "You can win these things that make a difference."
Wallace Froiseth
Wally Froiseth spent much of his youth in the ocean, eventually learning from beach boy John D. Kaupiko how to make a surfboard. Froiseth was a pioneer of big-wave surfing, helping to develop the hot curl surfboard (which was designed for big waves) and riding big surf with George Downing and John Kelly Jr.Froiseth and other surfers helped found the Waikiki Surf Club in 1948. He was the first to enter his canoe crew in the Molokai-Oahu canoe race in 1952. In addition, Froiseth was an accomplished sailor, working with designer Herb Kane and canoe builder Wright Bowman to create the double-hulled sailing canoe Hokule‘a in the early 1970s. “There would be no Hokule‘a without Wally Froiseth,” said Nainoa Thompson, president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society.
George Downing
George Downing was a true pioneer in both big-wave surfing and in the evolution of surfboard design. A successful competitive surfer he went on to win the prestigious Makaha International Surfing Championships three times in 1954, 1961, and 1965.
Downing made a study of surfing, analyzing weather maps to better understand swell formation, snorkeling over reefs on waveless days to learn how their topography affected the surf, calculating wave intervals, observing wind patterns and ocean currents, and absorbing all there was to know about surfboard theory and construction.”
George Downing was a pioneer, competitor, coach, student, innovator, and one of the last Waikiki Beach Boys mentored by Duke Kahanamoku. He was responsible for many firsts in the sport of surfing, and in 1950 he produced the first surfboard with a removable fin.
George Downing was often named "The Teacher" and "The Guru." Because he cared about surfing, and profoundly believed in the development of the sport through knowledge, innovation, experimentation, and understanding.
The surf pioneer coached the Hawaiian team to victory at the 1968 and 1972 World Surfing Championships, set paddling records, created Downing Hawaii Surfboards, and appeared in several iconic surf movies.
Later he became the legendary director of the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau, deciding when to call it on or off for three decades.