Corky Carrol "1996 Local Hero & 2004 Surf Champion"
Five-time U.S. Champion, 1966-70 & Surfer Poll Winner 1968
PHOTO: Courtesy of Ron Stoner
PHOTO: 1965 Corky Carroll at Sunset Beach, North Shore Hawaii. Photo courtesy of Leo Hetzel.
Corky Carroll, the original pioneer of professional surfing, was the first person to be paid to surf and the first to receive endorsements. He won nearly all the events that awarded prize money during the early years of competitive surfing.
Carroll started surfing in the mid-‘50s in Surfside, California while in first grade. He competed professionally from 1959 until 1972. During that time, he racked up five United States Championships, three International Professional Championships, an International Big Wave Championship, a World Small Wave Championship, and, as he puts it, “a bunch of other less glorious sounding titles.” Over 100 in all.
He was named “Best Surfer in the World” in a Surfer magazine readers poll in 1968. Carroll holds the distinction along with David Nuuhiwa of being inducted for both the Surf Champion and Local Hero for the Surfing Walk of Fame.
PHOTO: Corky & son, courtesy Sharon Marshall
PHOTO: Courtesy of MacGillivray Freeman Films
PHOTO: In 1966 when he was 18 years old Corky Carroll won the United States Surfboard Championships at Huntington Pier, he also won it in 1967 and 1969. Corky was the overall U.S. Champ from 1966 to 1970.
