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Joey Buran (March 21, 1961-) |
 The Largest Surfing EncyclopediaA-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 Advertisement
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To a kid growing up in California today, the path to pro world is clear. After the National Scholastic Surfing Association, you move up to the U.S. Tour. If that goes well and your sponsors want to foot the bill, it's on to the World Qualifying Series and hopefully into the Promised Land before the support runs out.
For Joey Buran in 1978, none of that was an option. The world tour was a burgeoning toddler, and if your passport didn't say Australia, Hawaii or South Africa, there wasn't a place for you. At 17, bored with the lack of competition in the Western Surfing Association's Junior division, he quit school and jumped in the ring. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Buran moved to Carlsbad, California, at age 11. In no time, he was surfing and winning contests all over North San Diego County. He won everything in California and finished sixth in the 1978 World Amateur Championships in South Africa. During his first year on tour, he made the finals of the Pipe Masters by defeating, among others, two-time reigning champ Rory Russell. Buran finished in the top 30 that season and became California's first full-time surfer on the tour. In 1980, he won the Waimea 5000 in Brazil, securing a position in the Top 16. Known as the "California Kid," Buran remained the only representative from the Golden State until 1983. But a major quake was brewing. It took everything Buran had to stave off Tom Curren the next year. Everyone was already hailing Curren as the savior, but the California Kid wasn't going to hand over the keys. Buran finished seventh in 1984, one spot ahead of Curren, eliminating his nemesis en route to a Katin victory and culminating the season by winning the Pipe Masters in huge, terrifying conditions. He was the only Californian to win at Pipe until Rob Machado broke through in 2000. It had been a lifelong dream, and Buran saw an opportunity to make a clean exit. He started the Professional Surfing Association of America the following year, giving young pros an opportunity he never had: to make some money and gain some experience before joining the big leagues. For two years, he was Joey Buran, executive director. In 1987, frustrated with the thankless position, he bailed, taking several months to regroup and eventually enrolling at Mira Costa Junior College in search of direction. He also attempted a professional comeback, earning spotty results on the tour he created. After one semester, he received an important call that altered his life. It was God on the line, and he wanted Buran to begin his pastoral internship. In 1991, he all but quit surfing, moved to Virginia Beach and became a pastor at Calvary Chapel. Four years later, he went to Vermont to start a new church in Burlington. After things got rolling there, the Buran family, which consisted of wife Jennifer and four children, relocated to California. From an eight-year absence, Buran returned to the surfing world, this time working at Surf Ride Surf Shop in Oceanside and coaching young surfers. It didn't take long for him to find his sea legs, and in perfect Puerto Escondido barrels in 1998, he claimed the World Masters Championship. Billabong soon hired him to coach its team of WQS hopefuls. It was a dream position for Buran, who got another shot at professional surfing at 38. He has since resigned, accepting a full-time position with Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and moving his family to Orange County -- not before he took another shot at Pipe. In the 1999 Pipe Masters, the California Kid made the semis of the trials, narrowly missing a spot in the main event 15 years after his historic victory. -- Jason Borte, March 2001
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