International Surfboard Builders Hall Of Fame Inductee Details
Sadly, over the years websites that have links here will change or be abandoned from the time that they were posted here so the will not be found.
Inductee Name Phil Becker | Event Year 2009 | Inductee Location 301 Pier Ave, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254 28251 Marguerite Pkwy, Mission Viejo, CA 92692 23755 Malibu Rd, Malibu, CA 90265 3140 E | Inductee Contact |
Inductee Brand |
Inductee Boardshop Becker Surfboards |
Boardshop Link http://www.beckersurf.com/ |
Inductee Bio
Hardworking and intensely private surfboard shaper from Hermosa Beach, California; best known for his longboards and easy-to-ride funboards; thought to have shaped more boards than anyone in the world. Becker learned his craft as a teenager in the early '50s from California board-building pioneers Dale Velzy and Hap Jacobs, and was the head shaper for Rick Surfboards in Hermosa from 1958 to 1979. Becker and fellow Californian Mike Eaton were the only two full-time shapers to make longboards throughout the '70s. In 1980, at age 40, he founded Becker Surfboards in Hermosa Beach (the name was later changed to Becker Surf and Sport). Working at a rate of roughly 10 boards a day, Becker likely passed the 100,000-board mark sometime around the year 2000 - nobody else in the world was close. In 2004, Surfing magazine estimated that Becker had shaped 130,000 boards; Al Merrick, in second, was at 45,000. Becker never had a surf team, never wore a watch, didn't like to be photographed, and gave just one magazine interview (to Surfer, in 1993). In 2006, the never-married Becker moved to Hawaii and cut back his shaping output. In 2010, Becker Surf and Sport was acquired by surf industry giant Billabong. | |||
For the complete biography, go to: http://encyclopediaofsurfing.com/entries/becker-phil | |||
Thanks to: http://encyclopediaofsurfing.com/entries/becker-phil for the photo | |||
Links |