Fred Hemmings (January 9, 1946-) |
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The career of 1968 World Surfing Champion Fred Hemmings was built on a solid footing of athleticism and perseverance. One of the most successful competitive surfers of all time, Hemmings became a prime mover in the establishment of professional surfing in the late '60s and '70s, then parlayed his credentials and name recognition into a republican seat in the Hawaii state legislature. An iconoclastic presence in the surfing world, Hemmings has always been known for moving against the cultural currents; he's never been shy about saying what's on his mind.
Fred Hemmings, Jr. was born in Honolulu. Fred Sr. was a tough English-Irish-French-Indian kid who came to Hawaii from New York City in 1922. Mother Lillian was fourth-generation Portuguese, a devout Catholic whose family came to the Islands in 1883 to work on a sugar plantation. Young Hemmings grew up in modest circumstances near Waikiki, learned to surf, survived polio, paddled and steered outriggers in the surf, attended Punahou School on a financial-aid scholarship, starred in football (playing offensive center and defensive linebacker, while co-captaining both his junior varsity and varsity interscholastic league-champion teams) and won slews of awards including Most Inspirational Player. He was named to the league All-Star Team by the Honolulu Star Bulletin. He also won surf contests -- the Makaha International (juniors in 1961 and 1963, mens in 1964 and 1966), the 1964 Peruvian International Championships, the Haleiwa Sea Spree in 1969 and, of course, the World Championship in Puerto Rico in 1968. There were many close finishes, too: seconds at Makaha 1965-'69, fifth in the first official World Contest in Peru in 1965, third in the 1967 Duke Kahanamoku Surfing Classic, second in Peru in 1967 and 1969 Peruvian International Championships and fifth in the 1969 Duke Kahanamoku Surfing Classic. Hemmings has also been an outstanding canoe paddler, participating in the Outrigger Canoe Club and Hui Nalu Canoe Club Molokai-to-Oahu race from 1956 to 1988. Considered the world championships of distance Hawaiian canoe racing, Hemmings was "first to finish paddler and steersman" in 1967, 1968, and 1975 (in record time). In 1984, he was first to finish in the Masters, again in record time, placing third overall. Besides all this, after his surfing career started to wane, Hemmings trained hard and started to enter long-distance foot races. He competed in (and completed) the Honolulu Marathon in 1974-'79, 1983, 1987 and 1991, the Edmonton Marathon (Canada) in 1981, the Volcano Marathon in 1983 and 1984 and set his personal best time (3:13:23) in the 1983 Hilo Marathon. But the highlight of his competitive sports career was the World Contest win in 1968, when he was pitted against the best surfers in the world in the final -- defending champ Nat Young, Mike Doyle, Midget Farrelly, Reno Abellira and Russell Hughes. The surf was excellent -- 8-foot-plus glassy emerald walls -- and Hemmings rode a conventional longboard and played the game perfectly, picking up the biggest and best waves, staying close to the curl and riding a long way. With a majority of judges honoring the traditional "biggest wave, longest ride, most critical part of the wave" criteria, Hemmings was a controversial winner over the more spectacular surfers on their shortboards (Wayne Lynch, Abellira, Young). A self-styled iconoclast and rebel, Hemmings made the most of his notoriety, quickly embarking on the politically incorrect mission of establishing surfing as a viable professional sport. He did this by assuming the mantle of pro surfing entrepreneur. One of the signatories to the unsuccessful International Professional Surfers Organization in December of 1968, Hemmings was soon running most of the North Shore surfing events. He produced the Smirnoff World Pro-Am 1969 to 1974, then founded and produced the Pipeline Masters (1971-1988), the World Cup of Surfing (1975-1988), World Team Surfing (1976-1980) and the Triple Crown of Surfing (1983-1988). By coanchoring TV coverage of many of these events, he acquired some degree of national celebrity. In 1976, with Randy Rarick, he founded International Professional Surfing (IPS), the first world pro organization with a circuit of events, which he ran until 1983. This made possible the lifestyles that top surfers enjoy today. Hemmings was inducted into the International Surfing Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Hawaii State Sports Hall of Fame in 1998. A member of the Hawaii state legislature in the '80s, he gained a reputation as an effective and vigorous leader with expertise as a political economist. He's been a radio talk show host, a contributing editor for Honolulu Magazine and a director of the Denver Broncos Football team. He is also the author of three books including The Soul of Surfing is Hawaiian. He still surfs, but paddles even more. Father of two, he is recently divorced and lives in Lanikai with his two dogs. "I think I have cured myself of the political disease," he said recently. -- Drew Kampion, October 2000 Click here to find all the Fred Hemmings photos and editorial on Surfline.
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