27 Years of Dedication, Stoke and ALOHA to the Sport of Surfing
1997 - 2024
The 2024 Surfers’ Hall of Fame is pleased to announce Jamie O’Brien, Jeff Deffenbaugh and Ilima Kalama as this year’s inductees
Jamie, being a Hawaiian surf sensation and Ilima, being a surfing champion and also coming from Hawaiian lineage going back over three centuries, is a beautiful and magical connection that this Olympic year surfing will be a part of the 2024 Summer Games which was a lifelong ambition and wish of the Father of Surfing, Hawaiian legend Duke Kahanamoku, and now that dream has come true. From ancient Hawaiian history up to modern times and into the future of surfing, the thread runs through these inductees. Another great connection is Jeff Deffenbaugh, being a local Huntington Beach surfing champion winning multiple significant surf events through the years in his home town, the same goes for Ilima who was a Huntington Beach lifeguard and became the United States Surfing Champion in Huntington Beach in 1962. Both of these champions are staples in their communities from different generations linking together in great agility and a calm, steely eyed competitiveness with apparent ease.
About the Surfer's Hall of Fame
The nation’s first imprint collection of legendary surfers, the Surfers’ Hall of Fame celebrated its first induction in 1997 inside of specialty retailer Huntington Surf & Sport where several slabs remain. Four years later with the blessing of the City Council and a stunning bronze statue of Duke Kahanamoku serving as a backdrop, the ceremony moved outside to the corner of PCH and Main, less than 100 feet from the famed Huntington Beach Pier, site of the U.S. Open of Surfing.
The Pai Family along with the Surfers’ Hall of Fame is steadfast in their passion to continue this legacy of paying tribute to those who contribute greatly to the sport of surfing.
The Surfers’ Hall of Fame induction ceremony pays tribute to those individuals who have made an indelible mark on the sport, industry, and culture of surfing. Annually, tens of thousands of visitors travel to Huntington Beach’s downtown area and literally walk in the footsteps of surfing superstars and legends from several eras including Laird Hamilton, Andy Irons, Jack O’Neill, Robert August, Bob Hurley, Sean Collins, Kelly Slater, Lisa Andersen, Gerry Lopez, George Downing, Ben Aipa, Shane Dorian, Greg Noll, Corky Carroll, Rick Fignetti, Shaun Tomson, Rob Machado, Sumo Sato, Timmy Turner, Ryan Turner, Casey Wheat, Shawn Stussy, Rabbit Kekai, Bethany Hamilton, Mick Fanning, Brett Simpson and many more, who are already immortalized in cement.
