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Handsome blond Australian regularfooter; winner of the 1967 Queensland state titles at age 20, and third-place finisher in the 1968 World Surfing Championships. "Russell is cool, that's all there is to it," 1966 world champion Nat Young said, adding that he once saw Hughes "step out of a car on the main beach at Newcastle dressed exactly like the Beatles on the cover of 

Hughes was born in Brisbane (1946), and began surfing with the Surfer's Paradise Surf Lifesaving Club in the early 1960s. At age 14 he left home for Sydney, and found his way to the home of filmmaker Paul Witzig and boardmaker Bob McTavish; over the next few years, the three surfers often traveled together.

In 1967, the fluid-surfing Hughes was pretty much the only top Australian to disavow the newly introduced short surfboards. "I don't like small boards," he told 

 magazine. "They're ridiculous, I think; even nine-footers. The shortboard restricts you."

The 1968 world titles were held in Puerto Rico, and Hughes, having by then made the switch to the shortboard, was the dark horse member of the Australian team. But as teammate and Nat Young later recalled, Hughes probably deserved higher than his third-place finish. "His smooth, flowing style suited the crumbling [Puerto Rican] walls so well," Young said. "I thought he had won."

Hughes mostly avoided the spotlight in the years to come, preferring to seek out and ride good waves either alone or with a few friends. He's been cited as the first "name" surfer to ride Bali, in late 1969 or early 1970. He later lived in California, Mexico, and Canada. Hughes died of bowel cancer in 2011, at age 64.

Hughes was featured in a small number of surf movies, including 

Hughes, Russell

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