Decorated trio enters Surfers' Hall of Fame in Huntington Beach

Italo Ferreira, left, Fernando Aguerre and Laylan Connelly pose for pictures holding their Surfers' Hall of Fame trophies.

By Matt SzaboStaff Writer

Aug. 4, 2023 6:07 PM PT

Duke Kahanamoku, a Hawaiian regarded as the father of modern surfing, first expressed his desire for surfing to be an Olympic sport as early as 1912.

Kahanamoku was an Olympic gold medalist in swimming, but he didn’t see why another aquatic sport couldn’t join in the fun.

A statue of Kahanamoku stands directly outside the front door of Huntington Surf & Sport, at the corner of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach.

Now the hand prints, footprints and signature of the man who helped bring surfing to the Olympic Games more than 100 years later are forever enshrined there too.

Fernando Aguerre signs his name in cement outside the Surfers' Hall of Fame.

International Surfing Assn. President Fernando Aguerre enjoyed the full circle moment. He was one of three surfing standouts included into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame there on Friday morning.

Brazilian professional surfer Italo Ferreira and local surf journalist Laylan Connelly were the other inductees in the 26th annual ceremony, started and run by Huntington Surf & Sport owner Aaron Pai and his family.

Aguerre, formerly a successful businessman who founded Reef sandals with his brother, Santiago, turned his attention to bringing surfing to the Olympics after becoming ISA president in the 1990s. That dream was realized at the 2021 Tokyo Games — with Ferreira as the first Olympic gold medalist in men’s surfing.

Aguerre, from Argentina, told a story of deciding to try to change the order of the first Olympic finals at the last minute, with the women surfing last after the men. It happened.

Surf journalist Laylan Connelly flashes the "shaka" sign while being inducted into the Surfers' Hall of Fame on Friday.

“At the end of your life, you’re going to look at things and did you do something about it, or did you just watch?,” said Aguerre, who attended the Surfers’ Hall of Fame induction ceremony with his four children. “I was never a watcher. I regret things that I did, and I’ve apologized many times in my life, but at least I don’t regret things that I didn’t do. That would be the saddest way to go down, no? There’s opportunities to change the world every day.”

Bob Fasulo, a Newport Beach resident who’s the executive director of the ISA, said he was blown away by Aguerre from the beginning.

“I think I understood in the very first moment that I met Fernando that he had this unique combination of passion, entrepreneurship and most importantly authenticity,” Fasulo said. “That’s very hard to find in anything we do in life. Behind all of these accomplishments is his amazing value system.”

Laylan Connelly signs her name in cement during the Surfers' Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Friday.

Connelly started as a weekly surf columnist for the Orange County Register more than 20 years ago, and that turned into a full-time gig as the newspaper’s “beach reporter” — a new title.

She grew to love surfing and now seeks to get away to San Onofre with her husband, Jon Perino, and children Kai and Liliani. She has enjoyed telling the stories of many aspects of the surf culture over the decades.

Connelly cited two late Huntington Beach locals and Hall of Fame inductees — surf pastor Sumo Sato and Rick “Rockin’ Fig” Fignetti — as two of her favorite subjects.

She was given her trophy Friday by Fignetti’s daughter, Chanel.

“You guys were not just sources to me, you became family,” she said to those assembled Friday morning. “There was this culture that just needed to be written about and documented. [My editors] fell for it and let me do it. People didn’t want to always read about the bad news and the bummer stuff. They wanted something to be stoked about, and things that they can relate to in this tight-knit community of the surf world.”

Italo Ferreira is overwhelmed with emotion while being inducted into the Surfers' Hall of Fame on Friday.

Ferreira is the first from Brazil to be inducted into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame, event emcee Todd Kline said. Born to a fisherman, he first rode waves with the top of an ice cooler at age 8.

Now 29, he became the 2019 world champion after besting compatriot Gabriel Medina in the finals of the Billabong Pipe Masters in Hawaii.

“When he arrived on tour I honestly underestimated his talents,” legendary surfer Kelly Slater said in a statement read by Kline. “He has proven to be one of the most exciting and dynamic surfers ever on tour, and showed us some things that nobody has done before.”

Before all the inductees cemented themselves into history, Pai offered a few words on what the Surfers’ Hall of Fame continues to mean for the culture.

“This place becomes more special with every induction, every month and every year that goes by,” he said. “After we are all gone, our kids and their kids will be able to come here and experience a little slice of surfing culture from years past. Times have changed and moments have passed, but the sport of surfing has kept us stoked and intrigued in many ways.”

Italo Ferreira places his hands and feet into cement during Friday's induction ceremony.

Decorated trio enters Surfers’ Hall of Fame in Huntington Beach

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