Taylor Knox (May 15, 1971-) |
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In the surf world, the man with the most scars wins. Scars for a surfer are equivalent to decorations for a soldier -- visible proof that he's been through the trenches and is still around to tell about it. And if scars do indeed signify a surfer's rank, Carlsbad's Taylor Knox -- one of the world's best surfers during the '90s -- would be a five-star general. One look at his sinewy, sunburned frame -- and the deep, discolored indentations that line his face and back -- and it's clear that his road to success has been full of potholes, speed bumps and blind curves.
But Knox never expected a free ride. As an 8-year-old living in Oxnard, California, the age he decided to become a pro surfer, he realized he couldn't rely on his God-given talent to take him to the big leagues. Instead, he took the blue-collar approach -- hard work, determination and an incessant desire to improve. As a teen, Knox didn't exactly light up the amateur ranks. No one would have picked him as a peer leader, especially when he received the news at age 15 that he would have to undergo immediate back surgery. A damaged lumbar vertebra from an old skateboard accident threatened to paralyze him if he didn't attend to it soon, and doctors told him the surgery might prevent him from surfing again. After six long months in a cocoon-like body cast, Knox proved to the doctors that he would surf again, and that he'd surf the way he'd been visualizing from the discomfort of his couch for the past half-year. Within months of his first day back in the water, Knox rocketed past the middle of the pack to the top of the ranks in the NSSA Open Season. He became a star member of the NSSA National Team, benefited from expert advice from former California pros David Barr and Witt Rowlett and went on to compete for the United States in the 1990 World Amateur Championships in Japan, finishing fourth -- his highly touted teammate, Kelly Slater, finished fifth. In the early '90s, with a little help from his friend Taylor Steele, maker of a progressive surf video titled Momentum, Knox became known as a key player in a group of fin-free heavy-hitters known as the New School. Along with Slater, Rob Machado, Shane Dorian, Shane Beschen and Ross Williams, Knox was being played up as the official replacement for the '80s dinosaurs. Knox had his competitive coming-out party at the 1992 Hard Rock World Cup at Sunset, when he won six heats in a row, took out Sunset notables such as Gary Elkerton, Sunny Garcia, Tony Moniz and Vetea David and secured a spot on the 1993 World Championship Tour. Knox's rise was steady from his rookie year on. He didn't win many events, but he gained the reputation as a surfer's surfer -- one of the only New School pros who truly buried a rail. His competitive success hit a crescendo in 1995 and 1996 when he finished fifth and sixth in the world. In February 1998, after dropping to the high teens in the WCT ranks the previous year, Knox charged into the spotlight by winning the inaugural K2 Big-Wave Challenge, an event that offered $50,000 to the surfer who caught the biggest wave of the winter and had photographic evidence. Knox unknowingly plunged into the winning wave -- a 52-foot behemoth at Todos Santos -- during the Reef Big-Wave World Championships. The drop made the tour workhorse an international hero overnight. "I got more publicity for that one wave than Kelly Slater did for any of his world titles," he later said. Despite the hype, his big-wave fame didn't help his plight on the world tour. He failed to qualify for the 1999 WCT. But Knox hadn't come all this way to fade into obscurity after a few successful years. His ultimate goal -- a world title -- had yet to be obtained. Knox snapped out of his losing ways in 1999 and easily qualified for the 2000 ASP World Championship Tour, and with a majority of events now being held in some of the world's best waves, the surfer's surfer may finally make a permanent mark in the ASP history books. -- Evan Slater, October 2000 Click here to find all the Taylor Knox photos and editorial on Surfline.
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