Mayes, Jack "Bluey" (1923 – 1997)

Strutting red-haired Australian regularfooter from Sydney's Bondi Beach; regarded as the country's best surfer from the early 1940s to the mid-'50s. "He was one big flavorsome bastard," Aussie writer Jimmy O'Keefe noted. "A flavor you might want to spit out, but a unique flavor all the same."

Mayes was born (1922) in Sydney, raised in Bondi, and began surfing at age six, after stripping the cloth from his mother's ironing board. He earned notice in his early 20s, riding a 15' hollow board he...