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Professional Surfers
Kelly Slater is a breakthrough Florida surfer in that he became the first
Floridian (and youngest) to capture the Association of Professional Surfers’ World Championship in 1992.
Kelly has actually surfed to the top in this championship a remarkable six times in the 1990’s. A native
of Cocoa Beach, Florida, Kelly showed his interest in surfing since he was small, going out to the beach
daily. Known for flexibility and aerial proficiency, Kelly has also excelled in power surfing and “skate
tricks” while surfing. The entertainment industry has taken a good interest in Kelly Slater - he’s been
in several movies, a TV appearance or two, and Kelly Slater’s name and surfing style even appears on a
video game about surfing!
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Lisa Andersen hails from Ormond Beach, Florida where she started her Florida surfing at the age of 13. Today, she holds four world titles from the Association of Professional Surfers, from 1994 through 1997. Lisa turned professional in 1988, and gained much surfing focus and the 1990’s after having her daughter, Erica! The style of Lisa’s surfing is often compared to male surfer styles, since her surf mentors were primarily men. Sports Illustrated has named Lisa in the list top female 20th century athletes. Lisa had to retire in 1998 because of chronic back problems, but really only semi-retired, continuing to enter some surf events while making a movie of her life story. Lisa definitely holds her place in both women’s surfing and Florida surfing.
A well-known surfing family rides the familiar and not-always-plentiful Gulf Coast waves of Indian Rocks Beach, Florida. Pete Lopez tried out surfing when he was 11 years old, at Clearwater Beach. Today he is known as “Style Daddy,” the accomplished surfer with two famous surfing sons. Cory and Shea Lopez are the only siblings who have both won the U.S. Open of Surfing title. Cory and Shea have also competed in the X-Games, and have traveled outside Florida many times to enter worldwide surfing competitions.
Daytona Beach, Florida is the hometown of a renowned female surfer, Frieda Zamba. Since age twelve, Frieda has been athletically surfing and defining women’s place in surfing differently. Combining aggressiveness and power, Frieda’s first professional win at “The Mazda Pro” was realized without losing even one heat during the competition. Frieda won her first world competition at the youngest age ever- just 19. All in all, Frieda won four world championships before partially retiring in 1988, then went on to win four more tournaments. In other ventures, Frieda played a starring role in “Surfer Girl,” an all-female surf movie. Giving back to women’s surfing, she has developed her own line of custom surfboards with the name Zamba. Frieda also teaches summer surf classes along the coastline of Florida.
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Yancy Spencer III is a Florida surfing legend in the Panhandle region. Surfing became Yancy’s passion in 1965, when he surfed for the very first time. Six months later, he had taken third place in the Junior Mens division of a Pensacola Beach contest. Yancy continued to surf around the Gulf, and add in some East Coast Florida stops, as well as securing a win in the East Coast professional surfing contest in 1972. Yancy’s career switched gears after then; he landed an opportunity to own a surf shop, which became the Florida Panhandle-based chain of shops known as Innerlight. Today, Yancy is widely considered to be the regional surfing expert when it comes to the Panhandle region of Florida.
Todd Holland had a humble surfing start out of North Carolina, but rose to the occasion when his family made the move to Cocoa Beach, Florida. Soon after the move, Todd began scoring in competitions for amateurs, and was named to the NSSA National Team five years straight. Todd took the US title in the Amateur Championships. As a professional, Todd was considered to be a well-known underdog and an expert in the smaller Florida surf. However, Todd defeated the Pipe Master, Tom Carroll, in Hawaii. Todd was both energized by and a surfing sport rival of Kelly Slater in the early 1990’s. Todd’s surfing style is immortalized in two DVDs that feature him along with other surfers.
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