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Alexandre, João (Dapin)

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Bermuda

Soulful and articulate writer-editor-photographer from Ventura, California; coauthor of 1963's

 magazine. "He swung the door wide open to a world of surfing," writer Jeff Duclos said of Cleary, "and made it fully accessible for all who cared to dream and follow."

Cleary was born (1938) in Los Angeles, raised near Pasadena, began board surfing in 1953 at age 15, and after high school served two years in the Marines. In 1962, he graduated from UCLA with a BA in English Lit.

During and after college, while living in Topanga, Cleary wrote an early draft for 

, a detailed spot-by-spot guidebook, and the first publication of its kind for surfers. After graduation, he handed the project off to Topanga neighbor and fellow UCLA grad David Stern, and left for France. Stern saw the book to completion and received a co-author credit; Cleary himself is featured on the book cover. (On the 

 "authors" "page, we learn that Cleary and Stern were "complete opposites in everything that counts, [and] outside of surfing they don't have enough similar interests or experiences to support the most simple kind of bull session. They are not a team. They do not work well together. Yet somehow they have remained friends through it all.")

Meanwhile, after returning from Europe, Cleary was surprised to find that letters he'd mailed back to friends in the L.A. area had been gathered and printed as an article in the recently founded 

 articles in 1963, and near the end of the year was hired as editor, a post he held until the magazine's demise in 1965. While never more than gently subversive, Cleary was the first ranking surf magazine writer to downplay competition and instead view surfing as something of a counterculture pursuit. "We're interested," Cleary wrote, "in the surfing mood, as well as surfing action; not just what's on the surface of the wave, but what lies beneath it."

 in late 1965, where he spent three years as associate editor, while also freelancing youth culture articles to 

 magazines. "The High Performers," Cleary's 1967 

 article, published just after Nat Young's groundbreaking win in the 1966 World Championships, sparked a furious and divisive back-and-forth volley between the best surfers from America and the best from Australia; "We're Tops Now," John Witzig's pro-Aussie fusillade, was addressed directly to Cleary.

, Cleary's surf history book, was published in 1967 by New American Library. In the 1970s, He wrote for 

Cleary died of Parkinson's disease in 2002, at age 64. He was married three times and had three children.

Cleary, Bill

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