This year’s Surfing Walk of Fame inductees, who will earn a granite stone on the corner of Main and Pacific Coast Highway, include a list of local wave riders who have helped spread stoke within the surf culture.
“Every single one of these honorees has had a profound impact on the sport and culture of surfing. The 2023 class has some serious heavyweights in it,” said Peter Townend, surfing’s first-world champ who also oversees the Walk Of Fame. “From great competitors to the environment to making wave-riding more accessible to exploring the possibilities that lie beyond the horizon, there’s so much inspiration in this group.”
Surfing Heritage and Culture Center co-founder Dick Metz is being honored as “Surf Pioneer.” Born in 1929 and raised in Laguna Beach, Metz was a long-time friend and business partner of surfboard shaper Hobie Alter, who revolutionized the sport when foam blanks were popularized.
Metz was also the inspiration for another friend, filmmaker Bruce Brown.
In 1958, Metz made “one of the first great around-the-world surf adventures, uncovering Cape Saint Francis in South Africa along the way,” reads the announcement for the event.
Metz would return to Dana Point to tell Brown about the adventures, urging him to take the same routes with a camera and two stylish surfers, including Huntington Beach’s Robert August, for the cult-classic surf film, “The Endless Summer.”
Metz spent much of the ’60s living in Hawaii running the Hobie shop in Honolulu, launched Surfline Hawaii with Dave Rochlen and later opened several other Hobie shops on both the West and East coasts.
Another familiar surfer is this year’s “Local Hero” inductee, Robert “Chuy” Madrigal, a well-known fixture in Huntington Beach since the ’70s.
“Bursting with talent, beyond his skills on a surf and skateboard, he’s also an incredibly talented artist, writer and event promoter,” reads the announcement.
Madrigal has long worked…
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