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MISSION VIEJO, Calif. - Dale Velzy, a surfing pioneer who helped
popularize the sport along the California coast and was once the
world's biggest surfboard maker, died at 77.
He died Thursday of lung cancer at the Mission Hospital Regional
Medical Center in Mission Viejo, hospital administrative supervisor
Brian Noakes said Monday.
Velzy also helped launch the surfing-movie genre by providing money
for the 1957 film "Slippery When Wet."
"Velzy's lasting legacy is the billion-dollar surf industry," said
Sam George, global editor for Surfer Magazine. "He created the
archetype and everyone has followed it: Get the hottest guys to ride
your equipment, get a photo of it, and market it."
Velzy built his reputation by putting a brand on his surfboard
designs. His most famous board was the "Pig," which debuted in 1955
and is now a collector's item priced at more than $3,000.
By 1960, Velzy was considered the world's largest surfboard
manufacturer, operating five shops and two factories that sold as
many as 200 custom-built boards a week. He made boards for such
legendary surfers as Duke Kahanamoku, George Downing and Mickey Dora.
"I can't tell you strongly enough how he was the original surfer-
cowboy-hot-rodder in Southern California," said Allan Seymour, who
knew Velzy since the eighth grade. "When we grew up, you couldn't get
a higher compliment than, 'You're a Dale Velzy guy.'"
Velzy, the son of a lifeguard, earned the nickname "The Hawk" for his
keen eyesight. He began repairing and reshaping surfboards in the
family garage in 1949 and later opened a shop under the Manhattan
Beach Pier outside Los Angeles.
He expanded the business to Venice and later Hermosa Beach, joining
Harold Jacobs in 1953 to produce boards under the Velzy-Jacobs label
until buying out his partner six years later. However, the Internal
Revenue Service shut his shops in 1959, citing faulty record keeping.
He reopened the business a decade later.
Today Velzy's name can be found throughout the surfing world.
Velzyland, a popular surfing spot on Oahu's north shore in Hawaii,
was named after him. The Doheny Longboard Surfing Association named
its annual surfing contest in his honor.
In 1997, he was inducted as a "surf pioneer" into the Huntington
Beach Surfing Walk of Fame. He also was inducted into the Hermosa
Beach Surfers Walk of Fame in 2003.
Velzy is survived by longtime girlfriend Fran Hoff, son Matt and
daughter Malia Cohen.
Services were pending.
