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Pleasant, hardworking, even-keeled competition official and promoter from Sydney, Australia; the executive director for the Association of Surfing Professionals from 1987 to 1994. "Graham is one of the most influential men in the sport," surf journalist Sam George wrote in 1987, "partly because he has carefully avoided the ego-traps often associated with high-level positions."

Cassidy was born (1947) and raised in Sydney, and began surfing at age 15. In 1969 he earned a B.A. in communications from Sydney College of Journalism. He'd meanwhile begun to work as a surfing competition judge and was selected for the 1970 World Surfing Championships judging panel. Cassidy's first big organizational success came in 1974 when he produced the debut 2SM/Coca-Cola Surfabout, Australia's richest pro contest at the time, convincing a radio station and a soft-drink bottler to put up $7,000 in prize money. For years to come, under Cassidy's guidance, the Surfabout remained the richest and best-organized event in the sport.

In 1981, Cassidy, by then a financial journalist for the 

 newspaper, was made president of the Australian Professional Surfing Association. Two years later, Cassidy was joined with fellow Aussies Ian Cairns, Peter Townend, and Peter Burness of South Africa, to create the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP), which replaced International Surfing Professionals as the governing body of the international circuit.

Over the years, Cassidy served at contest director for many of the key professional surfing events in Australia, including the Straight Talk Tyres Open and the Beaurepaires Open.

In 1986, Cassidy was named as the ASP's executive director. The moved happened suddenly, when former director Ian Cairns resigned after the 1986 Op Pro, best remembered for the rioting that took place on the beach during the finals. Although Cassidy held the top position within the ASP, the work initially didn't pay enough for him to work full time, and he was forced to keep his newspaper job. Eventually, the ASP was able to pay Cassidy an annual salary of $70,000.

Cassidy was instrumental in the ASP securing a million-dollar sponsorship from Coke for the 1994 season. But in December of that year, he was ousted by the ASP board of directors in a swift and unexpected 13–0 vote, partly because the pro surfers felt he wasn't doing enough to attract more prize money, and partly because Cassidy had moved the season-ending contests from Hawaii to Australia—a business move that vastly reduced the tour's finish-line drama. Cassidy later said that moving the tour's climax away from Hawaii was a capitulation to tour sponsor Coca-Cola, and that giving in was his "greatest regret—one that haunts me still."

, a compilation of profiles on Australian surfing champions.

In 2000, Cassidy served as media liaison for the 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games, in Sydney.

Cassidy, Graham

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features