"Carroll Takes Surf Title," Bill Lovejoy, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Nov 27, 1967

Dana Point's Corky Carroll nosed out Dale Dobson of San Diego in the one-hour professional finals to walk off with the $300 first prize as the Santa Cruz International Pro-Am Invitational closed yesterday at Steamer Lane.

The swell, which had been dormant over the first two days of the contest, sprang to life for yesterday's finals.

A stiff breeze also fanned the waves in the early morning competition and held up the start of the meet for about an hour

The women got the roughest treatment as they entered the water early in the day and were battered for the length of their heat

Early in the women’s heat, the whole group of finalists were caught inside during a set in which the waves were peaking at 9-to-10 feet. Almost all the girls lost their hoards and all lost valuable time while the waves smashed them.

After it was over, little Marcia Carr, who rides for the host Steamer Lane Surf Club, was awarded first place honors as she topped Shelly Merrick.

Yesterday’s crowd was the largest of the three-day event as the cliffs were crowded by 5,000 people, bringing the three-day total to close to 10,000 onlookers.

The cold water and the large swells put the senior men through one of the severest tests of the day. The oldsters of the surfing community must be 35 or older to compete in that bracket. The oldest entrant was 72.

Kit Horn of Fullerton was the top surfer in the senior men's division, while two Steamer Lane members took second and third with Bill Ruegg of San Francisco and Dr. Bob Scott of Gilroy, in that order, following Horn.

One of the best heats of the day belonged to the juniors as the swells were coming through at a solid 10 feet for the heat and provided the best ride of the day. George Arris from Santa Cruz took second place behind Roger Yates of Newport Beach and ahead of Roger Adams, who surfs for Pleasure Point, and got the "ride of the tournament" trophy.

The winning clubs in the men's and juniors' brackets were Blue Power of Santa Barbara and Steamer Lane Surf Club, respectively.

Locals Ron Ball and Debbie Gustavson took the tandem event with some fine action in the heavy surf that required the Coast Guard Auxiliary to rescue one pair of contestants.

“Surfing Steamer Lane for Fun and Profit: Santa Cruz Pro-Am,” by Drew Kampion, SURFER, March 1968

The place: Steamer Lane. The cast: a specially invited corps of top professional surfers. The surf: 10-foot plus and breaking hard in the kelp beds. The event: the first annual International Pro-Am Surfing Invitational—a contest that promises to become an important competition fixture.

That’s a capsule of the competition over the Thanksgiving holiday that gave a big boost to the concept of professional and amateur surfing. The pro ranks, with names like Carroll, Doyle, Purvey, Claffey, Anderson, Fury, were scratching in the chilly water for a top first prize of $300. Also on hand were top local Single A surfers from District Two of the newly organized Western Surfing Association—sponsor of the two-day event. The surf for the Saturday preliminaries was windblown, choppy and small, and then overnight, Steamer Lane pulled its little trick. The Sunday finals featured Steamer Lane specials: surf eight to twelve feet and breaking hard.

The early morning Senior Men’s heat was rough, with the size of the chop rivaling that of the waves. But by the time the Women’s finals ended, the surf had glassed off and the stage was set for the Pro finalists: Dale Dobson, Mike Doyle, Andy Neumann, Alf Laws and, scratching out of the semimain for the moment of truth: Corky Carroll.

The heat: one hour, unlimited wave count, five best waves.

The Pros, as expected, featured the best riding of the contest. Carroll, on his 8-foot 6-inch board, maneuvering flawlessly back and forth, in and out of the curl, milked the fine waves for everything they were worth. Doyle dropped in on wave after wave to the left of the peak, racing under the collapsing green sections. Mike never allowed more than the barest safety margin and paid with two wipe-outs for cutting it too close. Dobson took all the lefts everyone else was ignoring and got beautiful locked-in green tubes on almost every ride, taking the breath out of the entire crowd on the bluffs. All in all, it was one of the best final heats in any competition ever held in California, with Corky pulling out a tight victory over Dale Dobson, who, on his last ride, took a right and rode all the way to Cowell’s Beach. Corky, married two days later, used the $300 top prize to help finance a Hawaiian honeymoon.

In the Single A Men’s finals, Andy Neumann edged out local Rick “Black” Kalinowski for the winner’s trophy. “Black” took total gas on a skeg-first attempt from an eight-foot wave and never really recovered enough composure to top the smooth-riding Neumann.

In the Junior finals, local star George “Red-O” Arris swept into a strong second-place finish with a totally, and literally, out-of-sight wave, getting so tubed that everyone on the beach thought he’d gone home. Roger Yates proved to be too much, however, and walked off with first place by playing it “pure perfection.”

The neighborhood kids looked pretty fine in the tandem event, also, with Steamer Lane Club members Ron Ball and Debbie Gustavson out-maneuvering favorite Jack Iverson and his partner.

This first Pro-Am was by far the greatest success ever for the WSA District Two, and in particular for WSA President Dr. Robert Scott, who did everything. The good doctor broke the fin off his board in the Senior Men’s event, later dove fully dressed into the ocean to save a boy’s board from the rocks and, finally, helped dismantle the bleachers.

1967 Santa Cruz Pro-Am

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

Interviews

Features

The Sunday Joint

Contests