ECSC TO INDUCT SIX INDIVIDUALS INTO LOCAL SURFING LEGENDS HALL OF FAME<\/p>\n
(VIRGINIA BEACH, VA) \u2013 Six individuals will be inducted into the Surfing Legends of ECSC Hall of Fame as the annual weeklong summer beach sports festival gears up at the oceanfront. A special induction ceremony will take place in their honor at the Virginia Aquarium on Wednesday, Aug. 22 at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n
Established by the Virginia Beach Jaycees in 2005, the Surfing Legends of ECSC Hall of Fame consists of men and women who have helped the sport of surfing from Hampton Roads and along the East Coast and who have also played a role in the growth and success of the annual Coastal Edge East Coast Surfing Championships (CE-ECSC) presented by Vans. <\/p>\n
The following individuals will be inducted into the Surfing Legends honor roll:John Holland
\nHailing from Virginia Beach\u2019s first family of surfing, John Holland is related to two current ECSC Legends, his father Bob Holland and brother, Bobby Holland.<\/p>\n
From his first rides on his dad\u2019s paddleboard, John was surrounded by the sport all his life. John entered his first surfing contest at 12 years of age and continued competitive surfing until entering college in the early 1970s. John\u2019s first involvement in ECSC was in 1964 (the second Virginia Beach Surfing Carnival) where he placed second in the \u201cmidget\u201d division. <\/p>\n
Over his career, John competed in each of the various surfing contests, known as \u201cThe Tour,\u201d that raged along the East Coast. Holland was part of Hobie Alter\u2019s team that won the ECSC Team Championship beating out Dewy Webber\u2019s squad. He surfed against such greats as Gary Propper, an East Coast surfing legend in his own right. <\/p>\n
2012 ECSC Legends, add one<\/p>\n
Holland was named to the US Surf Team in 1965 at age 14 after he placed second in the Junior Men\u2019s division at Gilgo Beach even though he was still technically in the junior men\u2019s age group. He won the Junior Men\u2019s ECSC title in 1970 and the following year, he broke his leg while driving a motorcycle he had won from that contest. During the year that it took to fully recover, he began judging surfing contests and immediately received praise for his unbiased calls and unimpeachable rating scores.<\/p>\n
Eventually, John gave up the world of competitive surfing to focus on a career in medicine\u2014first at Old Dominion for undergrad pre-med then attending EVMS medical school. Five years ago Holland moved to his long-cherished property in Nags Head next-door to his father\u2019s house and now practices general surgery at Chesapeake Regional Hospital.<\/p>\n
Cecil Lear
\nCecil Lear is a co-founder of what would become the Eastern Surfing Association (ESA), the largest and oldest amateur surfing association in the world. A Jersey Shore native, Lear spent a lifetime on the water as a swimmer, a lifeguard and was eventually introduced to surfing in his early 30s. Lear and Mary Lou, his wife of over fifty years, live today in Belmar, NJ on property originally bought by his grandfather in 1920. <\/p>\n
His most significant involvement with ECSC occurred in the late 1960s when he helped the Jaycees set up the competition criteria similar to what was being used on the West Coast. He also was instrumental in getting many surfers from California to come east and compete in ECSC. He helped bring names like Hoppy Swartz and Hevs McClelland, two huge names in the California competition scene in the \u201860s.<\/p>\n
Lear was one of the first persons elected to the newly formed Surfing Hall of Fame in 1996, located in Huntington Beach, California. He continues to stay active in surfing and with ESA, nearly 50 years later; he also volunteers for Surfer\u2019s Healing.
\n\u201cI am humbled by the honor of being included with such a legendary group. These dedicated people have all worked so selflessly and tirelessly to establish and maintain the ECSC as the premier East Coast surfing contest and a world class event!\u201d — Cecil Lear <\/p>\n
Heather \u201cMimi\u201d Munro
\nAt CE-ECSC this year, Mimi becomes the first female inductee to the Surfing Legends of ECSC hall of fame.
\nThis mother of four (three of whom are surfers) and grandmother of nine, has been called one of the true matriarchs of surfing. As a schoolgirl, Munro dominated the women\u2019s divisions of East Coast surfing as a in the early to mid 1960s. She won the first contest she ever entered in the Florida State Championships in 1965 at the tender age of 13. Eventually Mimi won at ECSC twice (1965-66).<\/p>\n
\tBorn in Daytona and raised in Ormond Beach, Mimi first learned to surf by trying out a family friend\u2019s 10 ft. board and stood up on platform her first time. She gave up playing tennis and sailing and perfected her surfing technique by \u201cborrowing\u201d her older brothers surfboard whenever he wasn\u2019t looking. After that, she had surfboards aplenty to choose to ride, surfing for Daytona Beach\u2019s famous shaper George Miller and his Main Street Surf Shop team. For several years, she \u201cpiled into a van, entering contests and surfing our way up the coast with the Surfboards Hawaii and Hobie teams\u201d until the team arrived at the final contest of the summer –ECSC in Virginia Beach. \t\t(Continued)
\n2012 ECSC Legends, add two<\/p>\n
After two decades of raising children and returning to the work world, Mimi was \u201cboard again\u201d and came back to surfing on her 38th birthday at the Easter surf contest at Coco Beach. Mimi, who turned 60 in April this year, now owns her own surf camp and teaches men, women and children how to surf. This August, Mimi will once again make the drive from Florida to Virginia Beach to enter the Women\u2019s Longboard contest. This time, two of her grandchildren will be competing as well\u201446 years since their grandma last won. <\/p>\n
\t\u201cI have parents that bring up their young daughters and introduce them to me. That\u2019s when I began to realize that what I did back then was important. Now I understand why it\u2019s important.\u201d \u2013 Mimi Munro<\/p>\n
Roger \u201cBuddy\u201d Riggs
\nMany a Virginia Beach surfer got their first board from Buddy Riggs. Buddy\u2019s family operated a Western Auto Store at two locations at the oceanfront at 17th Street. Buddy later joined his father, Sam, in the business and ran the store until 1983. During the early 1960\u2019s, Riggs Western Auto sold famous surfboards brands like South Pacific, Tiki, Greg Noll, Gordon & Smith and Dewey Weber. <\/p>\n
Webber boards became Buddy\u2019s most popular line and his hardware store was Weber\u2019s largest dealer in the US. In fact, Dewey himself was a frequent visitor to Virginia Beach and ECSC because of the market and Buddy\u2019s trade.
\nDuring ECSC events Buddy was an active promoter, advertiser and designated photographer. Riggs was one of ECSC\u2019s most enthusiastic supporter and he took most of the pictures for the Jaycees at all the events including pictures for the news media and surfing magazines.<\/p>\n
Surfboard manufacturers and distributor teams came to Virginia Beach on a regular basis for exhibitions and promotions which played a major role in making the ECSC and Virginia Beach a major surfing destination. <\/p>\n
Buddy was also at the forefront of a new and upcoming sport and business \u2013 skateboarding. He sponsored what is believed to be the first skateboard competition at Virginia Beach and his store sold skateboards and accessories along with surfboards in those early years.<\/p>\n
Buddy participated greatly in civic affairs in the early days of the City of Virginia Beach. In 1961, he was appointed by Sidney Kellam as the youngest member of the merger committee for Virginia Beach and Princess Anne County; he served on the city\u2019s Planning Commission (1970- 1976) and was on the Virginia Beach City Council (1976- 1980).
\n\u201cBuddy is a big part of Virginia Beach surfing and the long term success of the Jaycees sponsored ECSC. His designation as an ECSC legend is truly well deserved.\u201d
\n \u2013 Don Fentress the first ECSC chairman, about Buddy Riggs. <\/p>\n
Lee Tolliver
\nVeteran sports writer Lee Tolliver is a Virginia Beach local who grew up with a healthy regard for the outdoors. Today, as sports writer and Outdoors columnist for the Virginian-Pilot newspaper, his love for Tidewater\u2019s hunting and fishing is a regular staple for the market\u2019s leading print and online news outlet.
\nMost journalists have certain stories that truly they enjoy covering from among their assignments or regular news beats. Surfing in general and the Coastal Edge East Coast Surfing Championships (CE-ECSC) in particular are clearly two of Tolliver\u2019s favorite topics. <\/p>\n
2012 ECSC Legends, add three
\nHis solid reporting has made the sport more understandable to casual news consumers and better appreciated by hardcore surf fans as well.
\nThrough his body of work, reporting on ECSC over four decades, Tolliver has helped three generations of newspaper readers better understand the annual surfing contest and the sport itself. His coverage helped establish surfing\u2019s rightful place as a legitimate news event on local sports pages and airwaves. Tolliver has chronicled the event\u2019s popularity on the city\u2019s calendar of events and profiled not only the competitors on the waves but the Virginia Beach Jaycees, sponsors and other people behind scenes, up in the judging scaffolding and out in the crowd.
\n\u201cI always loved everything about the sport, and its ties with Mother Nature and the sea.\u201d \u2013 Lee Tolliver <\/p>\n
Paul West
\nThe son of a well-travelled Navy family, Paul West considers Virginia Beach \u201chome\u201d and traces his surfing roots back to Hatteras and 1st Street jetty. A self-described longboard surfing romantic, West always believed surfing to be more about the artful side, a private, almost spiritual activity. <\/p>\n
Because West was a surfer first and competitor second, he believed that any fair, honest competition should be focused on the surfers. That got him his start in judging and later directing surf contests, becoming the youngest district director for the Eastern Surfing Association (ESA) and later the ESA\u2019s East Coast competition director. Eventually he was named United States competition director and even coached and managed the US Team for many years. <\/p>\n
Associated with ECSC since the 1970s, West has done and seen it all over the years. His first involvement was as a competitor, then as a judge, then co-director; currently West is on his third decade as the contest director for the Coastal Edge ECSC.<\/p>\n
He is currently the president of the United States Surfing Federation as well as the Florida Surfing Association (FSA) and has been active in many other national and international surfing organizations.<\/p>\n
In the past, Paul directed between 30 and 35 contests a year — sometimes over 50 — and has possibly run more surfing contests than anyone in the world. Going full circle, Paul now works mostly with church groups, Special Olympics, Wounded Warriors, Super Groms, orphanages, and has even taught 70 deaf and blind kids how to surf.
\n\u201cEverywhere you go people have at least heard of ECSC, and you can usually find someone who has surfed it. Surfing is a small world and the ECSC has been a big part of the sport of surfing.\u201d \u2013 Paul West<\/p>\n
The Coastal Edge ECSC presented by Vans (CE-ECSC) is North America\u2019s oldest surfing contest and the second oldest continuously-run surfing contest in the world. About 100 professional surfers from around the world will compete for cash prizes and ASP series points. Hundreds of amateur surfers will also compete for top rankings on the amateur circuit \u2013 and for the love of surfing. The entertainment festival and all sporting events are open to the public and free of charge to spectators.<\/p>\n
The Coastal Edge East Coast Surfing Championships is produced by the Virginia Beach Jaycees, an all volunteer, community service organization. Portions of the proceeds raised at CE-ECSC benefit the Jaycee\u2019s many charitable projects. Volunteers are needed and welcomed. FREE live musical entertainment from regional and national recording artists on a beach stage is also part of CE-ECSC. For more information and a schedule of events, bands, and times, visit: www.surfecsc.com. Look us up on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Foursquare. Join the 2012 Coastal Edge ECSC Text Club to keep updated throughout the event; to join, text ECSC to 68683.
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ECSC TO INDUCT SIX INDIVIDUALS INTO LOCAL SURFING LEGENDS HALL OF FAME (VIRGINIA BEACH, VA) \u2013 Six individuals will be inducted into the Surfing Legends of ECSC Hall of Fame as the annual weeklong summer beach sports festival gears up at the oceanfront. A special induction ceremony will take place in their honor at the … Continue reading “ECSC TO INDUCT SIX INDIVIDUALS INTO LOCAL SURFING LEGENDS HALL OF FAME”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-13980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-surfing-news-archive","tag-surfing-news-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13980\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}