The importance of the inaugural induction ceremony for the New Jersey Surfing Hall Of Fame, held June 6th in Manasquan, NJ, cannot be overstated. It was one of those rare evenings — 34 inductees, nearly 500 people in attendance, centuries of combined waveriding experience — that takes everyone back to their youth and makes rivalry and ego disappear. The best part? The NJSHOF’s class of 2015, including 16 existing East Coast Surfing Hall of Famers and 18 new inductees, represent a small fraction of the amazing and worthy Garden State surfers who helped shape this pivotal state’s culture and influence everyone who came after them.
The hall’s Board of Directors and Steering Committee were immediately organized to start building outreach programs and create a representative nomination process, while the NJSHOF established a strong relationship with the Tuckerton Seaport Museum to host a permanent installation at their facility to serve as a de facto home base. In short, the foundation has been laid for the preservation and recognition of the shared history of all New Jersey surfers, an achievement decades in the making that still somehow felt like it happened at just the right time. Photos: Mez