…Whatever happened to them I wonder …do they still surf much ??
They both seemed to get heaps of mag coverage in the '90s , then dropped off the radar .
Brock, particularly, seemed to be “flavour of the month” there for a while , in terms of the ‘big wave hellman at Waimea bay’ thing in the '90s . I thought he may have joined the tow-in heavies into this new millenium , but …
any of you hawaiians see them round / surf with them at all ?
…just wondering
ben
Last I heard of Johny Boy was when he punched Koby Aberton in the face…
There is LOTS of footage of the two in the Classic Surf Stories Series.
AND what happened to Bobby Owens too?? I wonder?
bobby owens works in santa cruz
jbg and bl are primary contestants in the
eddie aikau. bl competed at mavericks this past season and I think competed at jaws in december also
still charging
…thanks for the update CMP !
As long as they are both well , that’s the main thing …
cheers !
ben
yes Josh … I asked because I , too, had been watching some late 1980s- early 1990s dvds today , during all this stormy howling onshore weather we’re getting !
In a recent tv interview Johnny Boy said that he’s comeback from injuries and is thinking of returning to competition. Still has his power gouge. Das a big boy!
yes Josh … I asked because I , too, had been watching some late 1980s- early 1990s dvds today , during all this stormy howling onshore weather we’re getting !
Funny that today I got ‘Oceans in Motion’ (1994) for $2AU!!!
Yeah Johnny Boy like most of us Hawaiians got big and heavy with age. Probably 230-250 now on a 5’6" frame.
Still can crank’em though… I see him every now and then when he comes down to Ewa and Barbers every now and then during the summer. I like him cause he wears his heart on his sleeve like alot of westside hawaiians but really a nice guy deep down.You know he was kind of adopted by Skippy and Brudda Iz Kamakawiwaole and surf tutored by the legendary “Bird” and “Aunty Rell” on the westside. Don’t know why Sunny kept it going but JB dropped out of the picture after he won $50K at the Da Hui Backdoor shoot out.
Brock’s still in unreal shape and a professional unionized hollywood stunt man working with Brian Keaulana’s watersafety stunt crew. Worked on Blue Crush had a fling with Kate Blanchard kind of like Kaipo G. did with Madonna when she came here in the 80’s…
Both of them still can surf but now are part of the “elders”
JBG showed up at Old Man’s a couple months ago on a longboard. I was out that day but didn’t see him. He was crazy mad and wanted to beef one of the (larger, older) haole longtimers there, who wisely avoided battle. A few days later JBG comes to him, manager in tow, apologizing, saying he’s in “treatment” for an anger management problem he’s aware of, blah, blah, still hasn’t got it figured out.
Far as I can see and have heard, he and similar thugs are the worst of surfing. They get on out of aggression. You wanta surf for fun? Fine. Me too. But they wanta surf out of aggro and hate. Psycho for certain, not the kinda guy to take out a life insurance policy on.
Believe me there’s alot worse.
Guys you don’t even want to be near not the “punks” just pure mean and evil guys who’ll break you fins off to get you out of the water…
China who’s everyone’s teddy bear now used to be a monster in his prime and I hear Bradshaw been acting psycho at some of our southshore secret outside reef spots that him and his northshore cronies have been invading recently.
Last time I saw JBG he was all over some 16 year old loking hottie in the O-Beach parking saw me looking and took off in her car.
I did want to comment though that Bobby Owens is in a completely different league though in his prime at Sunset. Riding bonzers and football fins he had a style and a persona that not many can match these days. Foo was a psycho compared to Bobby. I miss that kind of surfing, smooth and energy efficient. Dorian and Parko are the closest but still alot of new school in their moves.
I just saw Johnny Boy giving surf lessons at Paradise and Pops this past weekend. He said he works part time for Hans Hedemann surf school in Waikiki. He seamed pretty mellow.
…all the older hawaiians like junior moepol (knife fights) and others were kick assed by the brazilians guys, who ¨send¨ them to Makaha and other places…
Yeah
but there are also pros on the westside who’s only occupation is to make people dissappear when certain individuals order it. When I was younger I met some of the guys that ordered things like this to happen at McNeil Island where alot of them have either passed on or are still there.
I don’t think you’d want these guys to show up at your place of work or house un invited either… Alot of people “dissappear” in certain areas for no apparant reason eventhough there always is one…
Surfpunks are roaches compared to people that do these kinds of things for a living…
When you show up a family funeral or baby luau in Waianae and folks are in prison garb or hand cuffs you don’t want to mess around with their relatives cause they just don’t care about anything anymore…
One day a while ago my neighbor fell asleep (drug induced) in his car on the street infront of his house with a “Dirty Harry Special” in his lap. Someone had to wake him up to tell him to put it away before he got reported or something bad happened…
Do the Brazilians mess around with Marvin Foster or certain owners of Da Hui? I don’t think so…
It’s all relative though…
Things are even worse in Rio I believe…
and Dane Kealoha ?
does he still rip ?
Anyone here surf with him at all ?
I always admired his tube riding and powerful turns…has he kept in good shape ?
That '70s footage I have of him and Buttons and Mark Liddell riding very radical looking “stinger” single fin designs …it still amazes me how WELL they made those boards work / surfed those designs !
ben
the segment “Hawaiians” [?“True Hawaiians”?] in “Surfers The Movie” , where Johnny Boy talks about Dane’s surfing , then they are both shown at Backdoor…THAT always remains in my mind , when I think of those two guys .
And, Brock Little’s Waimea tube (in about 1991, was it ?) …shades of Pat Curren more than 20 years [!] earlier , and James Jones’ [in ?1977? …“tube riding Waimea” article in Surfing. ]
Yeah Chip
Dane’s bigger too but he still rips mostly like Tony Moniz on bigger stuff and boards. JBG was the new gen Dane. No one’s taken his place… Maybe Pacheco or some Kauai guys… You just don’t see that kind of linebacker-kickboxer type of power any more it’s all slaterish.
Buttons and Ben Aipa seem to be in remarkable shape for their age especially Aipa who’s in his 60’s. And look at the balding Michael Ho… still commands respect at his spots.
Jock’s in great shape too and still rips like Gerry unlike BK and alot of others who aged wider. Guess all us Hawaiians will just end up looking like Buffalo or Rabbit which ain’t bad either must be in our genes.
“genes” … or too much , I wonder ?
[how else do so many people over 40 who “used to rip, back in the daze” just blimp out ? ]
Any of you Hawaiian Guys remember a local guy, Blah James? That was one spooky fellow! Last I had heard (mid 60’s) he was in prison. Did he ever get back on the street?
Howzit Thrailkill, I knew Blah James, He lived just down the street from me back in 70-72 while living on the north shore of Oahu, Yeah he could be spooky but he also could be a great guy as long as he liked you. Funny we were talking about him a few weeks ago and wondered what happened to him. He was known to be a bad sort who would rip off people. Had dinner at his house a few times and he was always a gentleman but you also watched him since his mood could swing at any time and if it did it was time thank him for his aloha and leave.Aloha,Kokua
Dane was guy who should have one at least one world title. He got screwed for taking a stand in Hawaii. That guy used to rip. JB, did not have Dane’s style, just the animal power.
“must be in our genes”
It is. Certain racial groups like mainland natives and HI natives have strong tendency to store calories to survive times of food shortage in their traditional lifestyle. Change to lots of carbs (beer is HEAVY on carbs) and you get big, bigger, biggest. Also lot of risk for diabetes and heart disease cause those stored calories gotta go somewhere. Loose the rice, beer etc and just eat meat and vegetables (paleo diet) and you loose a lot of the body bulk and disease risks. Pretty boring diet though.
Johnny Boy story: Sunset Point on a rising NW swell, mid 80’s. This dude I knew from SB comes over for spring break, I happen to see him out this morning at the point. He paddles for a decent wave, but JBG is behind him calling him off, so he backs out. He takes off on the next wave, a little bigger and better than the one before, but unfortunately for him, JBG had missed the previous wave and was now in position for this wave, which he took. CA boy takes off without looking back and finds himself full body tackled (would’ve made any NFL linebacker proud) by Johnny-boy. JBG loses his board, takes CA boy’s board from him and tells him to swim in, “I’ll meet you on the beach.” Man, that HAD to be a long swim in. Luckily, there were no injuries to report.