“SURFER Poll: 1965’s Top Surfers—Mike and Joyce Repeat!” SURFER magazine, July 1966

If, on the evening of April 15, 1966, a tidal wave roared over Capistrano Beach, California—well, the greatest names in surfing would have been wiped out. That was the evening of the SURFER Poll banquet honoring the best surfers of the world for their performances last year. The international surfing stars, along with leaders of the surfing industry, turned out at the Capistrano Beachcomber Club for this third annual awards banquet.

At the microphone, Master of Ceremonies Brennan “Hevs” McClelland kept the banquet guests laughing and, of course, wondering—who’s the world’s best surfer? And before the evening was over, loud applause ringing through the banquet hall seconded the top choices of SURFER Magazine readers: Joyce Hoffman and Mike Doyle. It was a repeat performance for both Joyce and Mike, and they richly deserved it. Joyce had swept through the 1965 competition season, walking off with the United States Surfing Association’s top honors. The six-foot-two, 200 pound Doyle, although he finished well down the final USSA ratings, was nonetheless a competitive standout during the year. He showed the fluid Doyle style in several contests, starring in the men’s and also tandem events. Among his triumphs was the Best Surfer Award at the United States Surfing Championships at Huntington Beach and at the Makaha contest where he won the tandem and placed third in the men’s division.

Announcer McClelland pointed out that this year’s SURFER Poll marked a milestone in the evolution of the sport. Many old familiar names, led by 1963 Poll winner Phil Edwards, were conspicuously absent from the top ten list. In fact, six of last year’s stars were missing from this year’s top ten: Fred Hemmings, Joey Cabell, Edwards, Midget Farrelly, Richard Chew, Butch Van Artsdalen. And replacing them was a new wave of stars with names like Nuuhiwa, Miller, Frye, Pomar, Hakman.

There were, of course, a hard core of veterans that perennially battle their way into the top category of the best surfers in the world, surfers like Doyle, Dora, Paul Strauch, Corky Carroll, and Dewey Weber.

A highlight of the evening was a movie clip of second-place winner David Nuuhiwa in a fantastic ride through the shorebreak at 22nd Street in Newport Beach, California. The eight-millimeter film shot by up and coming surf photographer Spyder Wills showed David in a long nose ride, then completely covered by the white water—and when he emerged still standing up, he was riding skeg first! Somehow during his moments in the tunnel, David’s board had reversed, but he never lost his footing.

“A lot of people have been asking about surfing technique—where does it go from here?” said McClelland at the microphone, “well maybe this is the answer. Maybe surfers like Nuuhiwa are going to take surfing into an entirely new area of wave aerobatics. Perhaps this is the beginning.”

Complimenting photographer Wills on the impressive action, McClelland asked him if he had just been lucky getting that shot. Wills answered with a grin, “No, I wasn’t. I missed it the first time, but then David did it again.”

Paul Strauch, who moved up from eighth to third position on the Poll, flew in from Houston to pick up his award. He arrived a few hours before the banquet and left immediately afterwards for the Texas city that was holding “Hawaiian Surfing Week.”

Strauch said: “It’s really fantastic. The whole city of Houston is behind Hawaiian Surfing Week. Duke Kahanamoku, Fred Hemmings and I were invited by the mayor. We were met at the airport by Gordon Cooper and other astronauts and given a tour of the NASA complex outside Houston. There are parades and dinners. It is really wonderful the way the people of Houston took surfing to their hearts. . . .”

The handsome Hawaiian brought special greetings from Duke Kahanamoku, who at that moment was a guest of honor at the Houston festivities. Strauch said the Duke sent regrets that he couldn’t come to the banquet, but added, “The Duke said to tell you, ‘Aloha,’ and that he is here in spirit with his friends, the best people in surfing.”

Strauch also brought a trophy that he presented to publisher John Severson and SURFER Magazine for “An Outstanding Contribution to the Sport of Surfing.”

A surprise #4 choice on the Poll was Mickey Dora, who moved up from the #12 position. Natty in his well-tailored Beverly Hills suit, Dora showed a moment of uncharacteristic humility when he was given his award by McClelland. But Mickey quickly recovered.

“I really don’t deserve this, you know,” said Mickey as Hevs handed him his medal. Then Mickey added: “I know nobody in this room voted for me, so I just want to thank all my friends out there in Magazine-land for making this possible.”

Corky Carroll, who last year made surfing history when he became the first junior named to the Poll, moved up one notch to fifth place.

Rusty Miller, the USSA competition champion for 1965, picked up sixth place but didn’t attend the banquet because he is on the high seas. Rusty was at that moment in Ceylon aboard the cruise ship 

, the celebrated floating university. Outgoing USSA president Hoppy Swarts accepted Rusty’s award and surfboard manufacturer Don Hansen revealed that Rusty had sent a special telegram to the banquet from Colombo, Ceylon. Hansen showed the crumpled radiogram which read: “REGRET I CAN’T BE THERE TONIGHT FOR THE HONORS STOP I FEEL HONORED TO BE IN SUCH FINE COMPANY STOP CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL STOP COWABUNGA STOP RUSTY”

Skip Frye, introduced by MC McClelland as “the famous surfer and Peruvian goodwill ambassador,” was voted #7—appearing for the first time on the Poll. Dewey Weber, the durable competition veteran who was surfing before Nuuhiwa was out of diapers, moved up from tenth position on last year’s Poll to #8.

Another newcomer on the Poll was Felipe Pomar, “The Wild Bull of Puntas Rocas,” whose big-wave achievements last year included a World Championship win in Peru. Pomar was back in the Islands studying North Shore waves and business administration at Church College and his award was picked up by Greg Noll.

The smallest and youngest among the top finishers, at #10, was Jeff Hakman, the little giant killer from Sunset Beach. Hakman, who with Nuuhiwa was one of the two juniors on the Poll, skyrocketed into the surfing hierarchy after winning the Duke Kahanamoku Invitational in big water at Sunset last December. Jeff, who is also attending school in the Islands, had his award picked up by surfboard manufacturer Hobie Alter.

Top honors for the women were less suspenseful, primarily because Joyce Hoffman had completely dominated the competition during the year. But Joyce and the other top four women surfers were on hand, and all looked very pretty with their orchid corsages. Joey Hamasaki, the attractive Hawaiian wahine, was second, with Makaha champion Nancy Nelson, third. Twelve-year-old Margo Godfrey—youngest surfer on the list—jumped into fourth place, and pretty Josette Lagardere was fifth.

An uninvited guest to the festivities was J. J. Moon, the controversial midwestern wake surfing champion. He arrived late with a surfer that Moon described as “a fellow that I’ve taught everything I can about surfing.” On closer examination, Moon’s friend turned out to be Joey Cabell, who slipped from #3 on last year’s SURFER Poll. Joey just smiled as Moon promised to storm up to McClelland at the announcer’s stand and demand a recount.

“How can any poll be right, if I’m not number one?” demanded the befuddled Lake Michigan champ. But then Moon settled down and didn’t protest as Doyle, Hoffman, Nuuhiwa, Strauch, and the others enjoyed their shining moment of glory—for all a moment richly deserved.

1965 SURFER Poll Awards

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features

The Sunday Joint

Videos

Contests