Espere, Tiger

Low-key but inspiring regularfooter from the North Shore of Oahu; a style influence on many heavy-hitting Hawaiian surfers from the 1960s and early '70s, including Gerry Lopez, Eddie Aikau and Barry Kanaiapuni. “He wasn’t flamboyant or radical,” Lopez said of Espere, “but he had an innate presence that simply made him part of the wave—and, in turn, the wave seemed a part of him.”

Clement Espere was born (1946) and raised on the North Shore by his fisherman-groundskeeper grandfather, and began...