Legendary surfer remembered fondly

Woody Brown: Jan. 5, 1912 - April 16, 2008

By KEKOA CATHERINE ENOMOTO Staff Writer
KAHULUI — One of the world’s most renowned surfers died Wednesday at Hale Makua, Kahului. Woodbridge Parker “Woody” Brown — a Renaissance man known as a pilot, world-record glider, pioneer big-wave surfer, inventor and author — was 96.

“Woody Brown was one of the first and greatest icons in the history of surfing,” Sen. Fred Hemmings said by phone Friday from the state Capitol. “As a very, very young child in the 1950s, one of the first surfing photos that caught my attention was a magazine photo taken by Skip Tsuzuki for what was then the Visitors Bureau. It was of Woody Brown slashing across a very large wave at Makaha with some of his friends.

“He was the essential surfer, an iconoclast: extremely independent, futuristic and, most especially, healthy,” said Hemmings, the 1968 world surfing champion who inaugurated the world professional surfing circuit in 1975, “which explains why he lived for 96 very productive, wonderful years. And I only hope more of us who call ourselves surfers can live the way Woody lived.

“Sad as anyone passing is, what a joyous life,” he concluded.

Woody Brown was born Jan. 5, 1912, in New York. At age 23, he struck out with a new bride for the West Coast and was among the first surfers off San Diego, building his own hollow plywood surfboard in 1937.

When his wife died in childbirth in 1939, he again headed west, to Tahiti, but got stranded in Hawaii because the government wasn’t issuing visas right before World War II.

He went on to surf with all the greats in waters off Waikiki, the North Shore of Oahu, Makaha and each of the Neighbor Islands, where he was the walk-up house guest of welcoming Hawaiian families. Buddies called the lanky waterman “Spider.”

Brown built the prototype of the modern catamaran in 1947 and pioneered taking Waikiki tourists for catamaran rides, which provided his living for four decades. He outlived two wives, and fathered two daughters and three sons, the youngest of whom is 19.

Over his lifetime, Brown rubbed shoulders with Charles Lindbergh, Duke Kahanamoku and old Hawaiians who lived the life of a former era, he said.

Friday, from Haiku to San Francisco, watermen splashed praises toward Brown, who surfed regularly until age 90.

“He was just a lot of fun to be out surfing with,” recalled Terry Quisenberry, a surfer, paddler and fence builder in Haiku. “I could always tell it was Woody, sitting up on his green board, paddling along. He really enjoyed surfing with everyone because his enthusiasm was just so contagious. He’s also very nice to everyone.

“We needed to tell him when the waves came because he had cataracts, and so we’d tell him, ‘OK, Woody, here comes one.’ So he’d take off and he’d be hootin’ and hollerin’ . . . he really did.

“He knew all the guys out in the (Kahului) harbor, more by face than by name, and we all watched out for him. . . . Too bad, we’re gonna miss him.”

Ka‘uhane Lu‘uwai of Makawao and Makena has coached Brown’s youngest son, Woody Brown Jr., since age 12 in outrigger paddling at Hawaiian Canoe Club.

“Oh Mr. Brown, he was a superstar in surfing, one of the godfathers of surfing. . . . He was just a great athlete, a guy before his time in a lot of things,” Lu‘uwai said.

Roger Crouse, a paddler and stand-up surfer from Pukalani and owner of Maui Rents, called Brown “a surfing legend in Hawaii. He worked at Hale Makua and said he ‘helped the seniors.’ It’s sad to see him go, it’s a big loss.”

Brown, who surfed regularly for two-thirds of a century, served as a model of active longevity to young and old.

Thirty-year-old Kiva Rivers, who was raised in Kuau, said Brown “was always an inspiration to me as a kid growing up. We always have that surf-till-we-die attitude; he actually fulfilled that dream.”

One of Rivers’ clearest memories of Brown was when the two were volunteering at a surf camp for youngsters with autism a year and half ago at Launiupoko Beach.

“We were hanging out, talking story. He was mentioning that he thought that when people passed away . . . they went to where everybody loved one another; nothing scary but a great place to be,” Rivers recounted.

Two men who documented Brown’s life were Drew Kampion, surf historian of Washington state and former “Surfing” magazine editor, and Emmy-winning Bay Area filmmaker David Brown (no relation), who produced “Of Wind and Waves: The Life of Woody Brown” in 2006.

Kampion remembered how he “surfed with him in the year 2000 out in Lahaina at a place nicknamed after him, Woody’s. He was 88 at the time, and he surfed better than I did.

“I think it’s interesting timing that he’s dying at the same time as a favorite surf spot, with the dredging of Kahului Harbor. That’s quite an interesting collision of lifestyles there.

“He was an extraordinary lifestyle pioneer; a very unique, elevated individual in his life . . . who had personal revelations.”

“Long may he ride,” Kampion said.

David Brown commented via e-mail from San Francisco: “Since I met him in 1993, Woody Brown was, and will always remain, a huge inspiration to me on so many levels. It was a rare privilege to make a documentary on his extraordinary life and spirit. Over the period of making ‘Surfing for Life’ and ‘Of Wind and Waves,’ I grew to love Woody dearly along with his family. Woody and his family became my family. I will miss him enormously, but the film (www.ofwindandwaves.com) and Woody’s legacy — one of generosity, kindness and loving aloha, not to mention his amazing accomplishments in surfing, sailing and soaring — will live forever.”

Woody Brown is survived by his wife, Macrene Brown; three sons, Woody Brown Jr., William Parker Brown and Jeffrey Sellon; two daughters, Mary Sue Gannon and Jennifer Snyder; and 10 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.

A wake will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at Ballard Family Mortuary, with a service at 7:30 p.m. The family requests casual attire.

When he was interviewed in Paia in 1994 for Malcolm Gault-Williams’ “Legendary Surfers: A Definitive History of Surfing’s Culture and Heroes,” Brown spoke with the clarity and hindsight of an octogenarian:

“I have to admit, I lived in the best time. I couldn’t have had a better life. I mean, I was very lucky all the way around. I had flying when it was its most romantic time, when every flight was an experiment. Then, with the surfing, the same thing; learning to make the (innovative V-tailed) Hot Curl boards and riding the big waves and coming into a little respect, you know, with people.

“I was just lucky. I saw the old Hawaiian people and how they used to live. I got the tail end of the true Hawaii. I’m so thankful and appreciative for that.”

• Kekoa Catherine Enomoto can be reached at kekoa@mauinews.com.