Today I would like to continue with my “surfing’s most interesting people” series that I started a couple of months ago.
These are profiles on people whom I have met over the mega-zillion years that I have been involved in surfing that are ones who I have found to be more interesting than most, for one reason or another. People that I would love to sit down and have a conversation with that didn’t center around current surfing events.
One of those, and also one of my favorite guys from the surfing world, is the late great Jack O’Neill. Let me give you some background on the dude in case you don’t already know who he is.
Jack was one of the very early surfing pioneers in the San Francisco/Santa Cruz area of Northern California. Born in Denver, he then served in the Navy during WW II and wound up settling in that area. He had body surfed there during the 1940s. He opened a surf shop on what was called “the Great Highway” in San Francisco in 1952.
Shortly after that, he began experimenting with developing some sort of gear to help keep warm while surfing the frigid waters up there. His first attempt was made with foam and plastic, but he soon started working with neoprene rubber.
Local surfers were skeptical at first, but only at first – as soon as he had a version that actually worked they flocked to it. It is widely accepted that he was one of the first to get the whole surfing wetsuit industry on the map. I know the Meistrell brothers from Redondo Beach also had a lot to do with that.
Jack later moved to Santa Cruz and opened a little shop right next to the pier. This is where I first met him in about 1960, on my first trip up there. He sold me some resin to repair my board and was a super cool and friendly guy.
During the surfing boom of the 1960s Jack’s company grew to prominence in the industry with clothing being added to the wetsuits. O’Neill became a solid brand. During those years, Jack’s kids became…
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