Our History

Founded in 1994 and dedicated to Duke Kahanamoku

PHOTO: Courtesy of Sharon Marshall.
PHOTO: Courtesy Sharon Marshall.  10 Year Induction Day ceremony with Peter "PT" Townend, Mayor Linda Mouton-Patterson, Don MacAllister and Dana Rohrabacher.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Bobby Zee. Don MacAllister and "PT" Peter Townend
PHOTO:Don MacAllister and PT. Photo courtesy of Bobby Zee.

Going back more than 2-1/2 decades, our International Surfing Museum in Huntington Beach tried to get a walk of fame going. There was no money and too many people who wanted to put their ideas in to how to do this. Well, nothing happened. Finally, a small group of 6, not all hard core surfers like myself, and Mike Abdelmuti (our benefactor) of Jack's got together and hatched the Surfing Walk of Fame. The main thing is that we wanted to have a ballot that is mailed out to the surf industry rather than a small group of people deciding each year who were going to put in the walk of fame. We mailed out over 200 ballots. Like the major sports groups do. We set standards for each of five categories, Surf Pioneer, Surf Champion, Woman of the Year, Surf Culture, Local Hero, and our Honor Roll.

Don MacAllister

Director & Founding Member