Clark Foam

From the early 1960s through 2005, Clark Foam was the world's leading producer of polyurethane foam blanks, the core material for a vast majority of surfboards. The company was founded in 1961 by Gordon "Grubby" Clark in Laguna Niguel, California; at its height, it produced an estimated 90% of blanks sold in America, and 60% of those sold worldwide.

Boardmakers had been experimenting with foam since the late '40s, but balsa remained the surfboard's core material until 1958, when leading Sout...