Aikau, Eddie (1946 – 1978)
Iconic big-wave rider from Honolulu, Hawaii; winner of the 1977 Duke Kahanamoku Classic surf contest, just three months before dying in a boating accident; regarded as the greatest Waimea surfer of his time, and namesake to the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau big-wave surf contest. "He had the ultimate Hawaiian style," next-generation big-wave charger Darrick Doerner said in 1990. "Take off and drop in, big bottom turn, disappear into a mountain of whitewater, pop out, throw his hair back...