Mark Foo (1958-December 23, 1994)

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Almost as much as he loved to surf, Mark Foo loved to be famous. He got his wish, but he paid the ultimate price -- a risk he was more than willing to accept to ride the world's biggest waves.

Born in Singapore to a Chinese photojournalist for the U.S. Information Agency, Foo landed on the shores of Honolulu at age four. By 11, he was surfing along the South Shore, but a family move soon left him dry-docked in Rockville, Maryland. He was lucky to relocate to Pensacola, on Florida's Gulf Coast, a few years later. There, he began competing and relying on movies and magazines to keep him in touch with the world of surfing. Reno Abellira was his biggest early influence, the one whose style and sense of professionalism Foo sought to replicate. The Foos returned to Hawaii in 1975 for good. Foo graduated from high school one year ahead of his peers, while achieving moderate success in the Hawaiian Surfing Association against the likes of Dane Kealoha and Buttons Kaluhiokalani.

Professional surfing was born the next year, and Foo set out on the IPS World Tour in 1977. By 1983, without achieving his goals in competition, he had quit the tour and begun surfing Waimea. Here was his opportunity to make a name for himself by mainly staying home -- where he ran an affordable boarding house for traveling surfers -- and charging big waves. He was one of the first to forge a career outside of competition, clearing the path for future Hawaiians such as Brock Little and Todd Chesser. Foo pioneered a new breed of Waimea surfer -- a heavily sponsored professional riding smaller, high performance thrusters and wearing a leash. He professed against the image of surfers as bums, instead insisting they were athletes, artists and professionals.

Surfing whenever and wherever he wanted enabled Foo to remain on the vanguard of the big-wave hunt. On January 18, 1985, he caught a rare 25-footer at Waimea and freefell into oblivion at the same time he was ascending to legend status. Always aware of his mortality, Mark Foo was later quoted: "If you want the ultimate thrill, you've got to be willing to pay the ultimate price."

In the 1988 Eddie Aikau Expression Session at 18- to 20-foot Waimea, he not only caught the biggest wave of the event but also pulled into a huge barrel and nearly escaped. As attention shifted to the mainland and on to outer reefs, Foo was there. He'd surfed the biggest days at Todos Santos, explored Hawaii's outer reefs and was set to challenge Maverick's when it became the next frontier in the early '90s.

On December 23, 1994, after taking a red-eye from Honolulu, he paddled out at Maverick's with Little and long-time Waimea rival Ken Bradshaw. On a routine-looking 18-footer, Foo dug a rail and somehow blacked out under water. Since the wipeout didn't look too serious, no one noticed his absence in the crowded lineup. By the time his body was found floating beneath his board toward the harbor, he had been dead for more than an hour. Foo had paid the ultimate price.

The publicity surrounding the event was unprecedented as the story quickly spread around the world. Although he unfortunately wasn't around to enjoy it, it was the sort of fame he always wanted. -- Jason Borte, November 2000