Copeland, Bing (1936 – )

Market-wise surfboard manufacturer from Hermosa Beach, California; founder of Bing Surfboards, one of the sport's best-known brands in the 1960s. Born Herbert Bingham Copeland (1936), in the Los Angeles County oceanfront suburb of Torrance, Bing was raised in nearby Manhattan Beach, and began surfing at age 13, with future big-wave crusher Greg Noll. Copeland and Noll both learned how to make surfboards from American board-manufacturing pioneer Dale Velzy.

Copeland joined the Coast Guard and...