Corky Carroll 2004 Surf Champion/1996 Local Hero
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 all the events that gave away prize money in the early years.
Carroll started surfing in the mid-fifties in Surfside, California while in the first grade. He competed professionally from 1959 until 1972, when he retired at the age of 24. In that time, he won five overall United States Championships, three International Professional Championships, one International Big Wave Championship, one 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. Cory hold the distinction along with David Nuuhiwa of being inducted for both the Surf Champion and Local Hero for the Surfing Walk of Fame.