One of my very favorite events to cover each year is the Surfer’s Hall of Fame inductions.

This year’s ceremony is set for 9 a.m. on Aug. 4.  The site is the Surfer’s Hall of Fame Plaza on the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street in Huntington Beach, directly across the street from Duke’s Restaurant and the infamous Huntington Beach Pier.  It is part of the big week of the U.S. Open of Surfing, held at the pier from July 29 to Aug. 6.

This is the 26th year for the SHOF, the brainchild of lifetime Huntington Beach local surfer, and owner of Huntington Surf & Sport, Aaron Pai.

Aaron and his family are Orange County surfing royalty and together they put on this event each year to try and give back some of their love and dedication to the sport and lifestyle that is surfing and the surfing community as a whole.  I can’t remember how many Pais there are now in that family, but they all surf and are all really cool and they all work together to make the SHOF one of the most prestigious events in Surfing.

The ceremony is patterned after the famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre collection of cement tiles with hand and footprints of movie stars. In this case, each surfer who is inducted into the Hall of Fame has a square of concrete which they put their hand and footprints, sign and write a short something.  These concrete squares are laid in the ground in the Surfer’s Hall of Fame Plaza and are looked over by the big statue of Duke Kahanamoku that marks the spot.

Some of the previous inductees into the Surfer’s Hall of Fame include Kelly Slater, Tom Curren, Phil Edwards, Mike Doyle, Shaun Tomson, Mark Richards, Gerry Lopez, George Downing, Paul Strauch, Joyce Hoffman, Lisa Anderson, Margo Oberg, Bob Hurley, Bruce Brown, Robert August, Bud Lamas, Mickey Munoz, Jericho Poplar, Wingnut Weaver, Rob Machado and this list goes on and on and even includes my favorite cool dude and old surfing fat guy, me.  I try to not include myself in this list each year, but my ego wins out and the fact that I am very proud of actually being inducted that I just can’t help myself.  It’s my party and I’ll brag if I want to.  (Insert me with tongue sticking out going “hahaha.”)

This year’s inductees are Italo Ferreira, the dynamic Brazilian world champion, Pipeline Masters winner and surfing’s first Olympic gold medalist.  Also, Fernando Aguerre, a Southern California transplant originally from Argentina.  Fernando started the super successful Reef Brazil company and is today the president of the International Surfing Association.  It was largely due to his relentless work and dedication to getting surfing recognized as an Olympic sport that at long – believe me very long – last it is now part of the summer games.

Rounding out this year’s inductees is our very own, and I not only mean Orange County’s very own, but The Orange County Register’s very own, Laylan Connelly.  I am so over the top happy, this is a great moment for all of us to share in.  Laylan has worked heart-and-soul for more than 20 years bringing the very heartbeat of the surfing community to the world at large in ways that engage both the hard-core surfers as well as being informative to those who never have, and never will, set foot on a surfboard.

She is simply the best at doing what she does, reporting surfing to the world.  I am super proud of her and it has been a true honor to be her fellow surfing columnist through all these years – and many more I hope to come.

Not only does Laylan write about it, but she is a full-on surfer herself who describes her best days as “hanging out down at San Onofre with husband Jon Perino and children Kai and Liliani, soaking in the sun and surf and looking for the next story on the horizon.”

A huge congrats to Laylan and her family.  I will tell you more about the event and both Italo and Fernando in my next offering.  Stay tuned.

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