User:Cuchullain/Tom Blake
Thomas Edward "Tom" Blake, Jr.(March 8, 1902 – May 5, 1992) was a pioneering Americansurfer,water sportsmanandsurfboard designer.
Early life
[edit]Blake was born inMilwaukee, Wisconsinin 1902 to Blanche Wooliver Blake and Tom Blake, Sr., a club steward who had formerly owned abar.Blake's mother died when he was eleven months old, and his devastated father left him to be raised by relatives.[1]Growing up in Milwaukee, he learned about Hawaiian surfing from a briefnewsreelhe saw as a child.[2]He dropped out of high school and began traveling the country in 1919, at the age of 17. The next year, while living inDetroit,he met surfer and Olympic swimmerDuke Kahanamokuin a local movie theater. In 1921 he relocated to theLos Angelesarea where immersed himself in the beach and water sports culture.[3]
Blake embraced competitive swimming and soon emerged as one of the best swimmers in the United States. He won the 1922Amateur Athletic Unionten-mile race and later outswam Kahanamoku in a 220-meter sprint. He subsequently worked as alifeguardat the Santa Monica Swim Club.[4]
==Itroduction to surfing. He also tried his hand at surfing in 1921 in Santa Monica. At the time, surfing was largely considered a curiosity outside of Hawaii. His first experience ended in a bad wipeout, and Blake did not return to the sport for another three years.[4]
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- Warshaw, Matt (2005). "Tom Blake".The Encylopedia of Surfing.Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 65–67.ISBN0156032511.
- http://books.google.com/books?id=wAswiTYwU74C&pg=PA269&dq=%22Tom+Blake%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=63FoUfKBJIim9AS11YCwDg&ved=0CEMQ6AEwAjgU#v=onepage&q=%22Tom%20Blake%22&f=false