Gary Propper

Ugh.

They had Gary Propper.

They had this, that.

They had magazine coverage.

Um, here in Cocoa Beach, you know, even in the late '60s, you could drive your car on the beach, and, uh, everybody would, you know, come out to watch the launches, watch the space launches.

And, uh, you know, and then of course, um, there's a really lot of, of, you know, surfing history going back to, you know, Gary Propper.

Um, many people regard him as kinda one of the first pro surfers, um, actually making a living from surfing, and he was from Cocoa Beach.

And he became, uh, part of the Hobie team, and, um, um, you know, interestingly enough, like the Gary Propper model was one of the best-selling Hobie surfboards ever of all time.

Um, but Gary, uh, you know, lived just up the street from me and, you know, I met him when I was, like, 9 or 10 years old.

And, um, he was stripping down the wax on his long boards in his front yard and, you know, I didn't know anything.

I didn't even know anything about, you know, surfing competitions or, or pro surfing.

And, uh, yeah, I think he was kinda trading in his old long boards and, um, moving on into that whole kinda short board era.