A-frame

Aaberg, Denny

Aaberg, Kemp

Abberton, Koby

Abbruzzi, Sid

Abellira, Reno

Abubo, Megan

academia and surfing

Adler, Tom

advertising and surfing

Aeder, Erik

aerial

Aguerre, Fernando

Aichner, Scott

Aikau, Clyde

Aikau, Eddie

Aipa, Ben

air-drop

airbrush

Airshow

Ala Moana

Alabama

alaia board

Alaska

alcohol and surfing

Alexander, Kala

Allen, Chuck

Alms, Paige

aloha shirt

Alter, Hobie

Alvarez, Pepe

Ancell, Kevin

Andaman Islands

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Anderson, Craig

Anderson, Simon

Andino, Kolohe

Angel, Jose

angle

Angola

Angourie

Antarctica

Apocalypse Now

Arabian Sea

Aragon, Janice

Arakawa, Eric

Archbold, Matt

Arena, Eduardo

Ashton, Juan

Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)

Atlantic Ocean

August, Robert

Aurness, Rolf

Auster, Ken

Australia

Avalon, Frankie

Azores

backdoor

backside

backside attack, Pipeline

backwash

bail out

Bain, Rob

Baja California

Baker, Bernie

Baker, Grant “Twiggy”

Baker, Tim

Bali

Ball, John “Doc”

Ballard, Bill

Ballard, Rochelle

balsa

Baltic Sea

Banks, Jim

Barbados

Barilotti, Steve

Barland, Michel

Barreda, Sergio “Gordo”

Barry, Michael

Bartholomew, Wayne

Baxter, Jackie

Bay of Bengal

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Beacham, Debbie

beachboys

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Beachley, Layne

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Becker, Phil

Bedford-Brown, Stuart

Belgium

Bells Beach

Bendall, Ma and Pa

Bennett, Barry

Benson, Becky

Benson, Blanche

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Bertlemann, Larry

High-octane promoter and entrepreneur from Honolulu, Hawaii; manager of Olympic swim champion and surfing legend Duke Kahanamoku from 1961 until Kahanamoku's death in 1968; founder of the Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championships. Australian surf journalist Phil Jarratt wrote that McVay, a disc jockey in the late '50s, was, "in the nicest possible way, a hustler."

McVay's great-great- grandfather was a missionary to Hawaii and an official in King Kamehameha III's court, and his father was a Navy captain. McVay himself was born (1927) in Washington, D.C., but raised in Honolulu. He began promoting local singers in the late 1950s, and found early success with Robin Luke, whose "Susie Darlin'" went to #5 on the Billboard charts in 1958. In 1962, McVay signed popular nightclub act Don Ho, who went on to international fame.

As president of the 1961-formed Duke Kahanamoku Enterprises—a for-profit corporation, but also an altruistic project to help the nearly impoverished Kahanamoku—McVay opened Duke Kahanamoku's Restaurant in Waikiki's International Market Place, and later formed the Duke Kahanamoku Surf Club, with team members including top surfers Paul Strauch, Joey Cabell, Fred Hemmings, Jeff Hakman, Bruce Valluzzi, and Butch Van Artsdalen.

After attending the 1962 West Coast Championships in Huntington Beach with Kahanamoku, McVay had the idea for an elite made-for-TV surf contest at Sunset Beach; the resulting Duke Kahanamoku Invitational, which debuted in 1965, was the first major competition on Oahu's North Shore. It was McVay who came up with idea that the Duke trophies be nearly identical to those given out at the Oscars.

McVay gave the aging Duke a makeover, arranging to get him an all-white wardrobe, a boat, and a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud with surf racks. He also made deals to put Duke's name on skateboards, surfboards, shoes, and ukuleles, another other retail items. "McVay," as one writer later noted, "was everything that Duke was not—shrewd, glib, outgoing." Kahanamoku didn't get rich from McVay's efforts, but he lived in more material comfort than at any other point in his life. "People say I exploited him," McVay later said. "Ha! He loved it."

McVay died in 2001, of cancer, at age 73.

McVay, Kimo Wilder

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features