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Surf contest organizer from Durban, South Africa; cofounder of the Gunston 500 competition in 1969; father of 1977 world champion Shaun Tomson. Ernie Tomson was born (1923) and raised in Durban and was a tail gunner in the South African Air Force during World War II. 

A lifeguard and top-ranked competitive swimmer, Tomson was bellyboarding at Durban's South Beach in early 1946 when he was hit by a bull shark and lost his right bicep. After an initial recovery, Tomson flew to San Francisco for a series of reconstructive surgeries—the arm was saved but would be just partially functional for the rest of his life—after which he spent several months recuperating in Waikiki, where he stayed in the beachfront Royal Hawaiian Hotel and was befriended by Duke Kahanamoku and his brothers. 

Tomson went to have a successful career in auto-body repair and real estate. 

Tomson became interested in surfing in the early '60s, along with his firstborn son Shaun; by the end of the decade Ernie was coaching Shaun, as well as other rising Durban-based surfers including Michael Tomson (Ernie's nephew), Mike Esposito, Bruce Jackson, Paul Naude, and later Mike Savage, Michael Burness, and future world champion Martin Potter. "With binoculars around his neck," Shaun later wrote, "he would critique everyone's surfing and was always there with advice, encouragement, and financial assistance. The enthusiasm radiated out of him to the whole surfing community." Ernie and his son would both would fly to Hawaii in 1969, as a bar mitzvah gift for Shaun. 

Tomson was president of the Natal Surfing Association, and was a judge at the 1970 World Championships, held in Victoria, Australia. 

The Gunston 500 (inaugurated as the Durban 500), created by Tomson along with Ian McDonald and Max Wetteland, was not only South Africa's first professional contest, but regarded by virtually everybody in the pro surfing game—surfers, sponsors, and organizers alike—as the best-run event of the period. Shaun won the Gunston 500 six times in a row, starting in 1973. 

While Tomson was very much a member of the South African business establishment, he took a stand in 1972 against his government's racist apartheid policies by inviting Eddie Aikau into his beachfront apartment after the dark-skinned Hawaiian surfer arrived in South Africa for the Gunston 500 and was turned away from a whites-only Durban hotel. 

Tomson died of a heart attack in 1981 at age 57. 

Hi Matt,
That would be great - some cool things about my Dad you don't know - started the Gunston 500 with 2 pals in '69 - world's longest running pro event - Bells started earlier but didn't have a pro division until the 70s.Rescued Wetteland surfboards out of bankruptcy - bought a new building for the business - half board business and the other half was a nightclub called Windansea - sand on the floor!He judged the 1970 World contest final at Johanna.Interesting article he wrote - perhaps the first recorded shark attack on a surfer - "It was an ideal day for surfing and for sharks."He had surgery in San Francisco and recuperated in Hawaii - stayed at the Royal and met his heroes - the Kahanamoku clan.Sponsored Martin Potter as a child along with many of SA's top surfers.Volunteered for WW2 - was a tail gunner flying American Marauder bombers against Nazis and Fascists in N. Africa and Italy.Was in the beach with me when I won the Masters in '75 - a special moment - that's when the world was a big place.

Tomson, Ernie

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