Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)

The Largest Surfing Encyclopedia

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A-Z: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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The idea of surfing as a clean-cut, organized sport, packaged for the masses, has been an impossible dream. In the quarter century since the inception of a professional surfing tour, legitimacy has remained elusive. Sure, the money has come around, sort of, and live webcasts from Tahiti are slightly more exciting than a typical day in the cubicle, but the ASP's world tour of surfing isn't a blip on the radar of mainstream America. While golf, tennis and even bowling routinely keep millions on the edge of their seats, surfing is relegated to random sightings between Bassmasters and the World's Strongest Man competitions.

In 1976, Fred Hemmings surely had bigger ideas. The 1968 world champion and fellow Hawaiian Randy Rarick were pulling the strings when professional surfing was born. International Professional Surfers (IPS) was organized halfway through a season of events that began in New Zealand and went through Australia, Florida, South Africa, Brazil and Hawaii. Retroactively, they attributed points to each event, and Aussie Peter Townend was crowned the first world champion. There wasn't much fanfare, but there was a judging criteria, a few meager sponsors and a couple dozen hungry surfers intent on earning a living from surfing.

The fledgling tour limped into the '80s, growing slightly in coverage and prize purse each year as internal squabbles and American indifference threatened to unravel the system. Mark Richards set an early precedent by claiming four consecutive titles, while a women's tour, instituted in 1977 and dominated by Margo Oberg, ensured equal rights. No one was getting rich, but a handful of surfers were seeing the world and giving grommets something to strive for.

In 1983, Ian Cairns, Aussie powerhouse and 1976 IPS runner-up, grabbed the reins as the ASP wrestled control of professional surfing with sponsorship from clothing giant Ocean Pacific. The money was now more secure, and American interest was on the rise, heightened by Huntington Beach's carnival-esque OP Pro and by OP's own surfing god, Tom Curren.

Surf companies thrived during the mid-'80s boom time, pumping money into the tour as hungry trialists took aim at their heroes. Grovel-fests began sprouting up from Pennsylvania to Japan, and the once anemic schedule ballooned into a 20-event-plus war of attrition.

After coming back for his third world title in 1990, Curren "went soul" as the economy went belly-up, reducing pro surfing's annual purse for the first time in history. In 1992, the trials were abandoned in favor of a world qualifying series, and the top 30 became the Top 44, an elite group who competed solely against one another for the entire year. Fortunately, the market rebounded as surfing found a boy king in Kelly Slater. The money reapproached its 1990 peak of just less than $2 million annually, while Slater became the six-time champ. His Floridian neighbor, Lisa Andersen, was similarly popular and successful on the women's side, sparking a female population explosion in the water.

Despite inheriting as popular an American duo as imaginable, professional surfing remains mired in an awkward position. Too Old School and immobile for the X Games, it hasn't benefited from the "extreme" push. Alternative events, from air shows to big-wave showdowns, are far more accepted by the mainstream. Straightforward contest surfing is slow and monotonous when pitted against WWF Smackdown. Wavepools, considered pro surfing's savior since Hemmings first sampled Big Surf in Arizona in 1969, are yet to emerge beyond kiddie pools. There may be no solution.

Still clinging to visions of glory, the ASP marches on. Aside from the Mens' and Womens' champs, a Longboard, Masters, Junior, and World Qualifying Series champion is crowned each season. Prize purses have doubled to $250,000 per event as of 2001, and the surfers have more of a say in the proceedings than ever before. The headquarters have moved to Queensland, Australia, where visionary and 1978 World Champion Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew is now at the helm. The colorful Bartholomew was one of the first believers, back in 1976, that people could earn a living from pro surfing. And not to squeak by, but to jet around the globe like a rock star. It's still just a dream, but at least it's still alive. -- Jason Borte, October 2000