Mitchell, James "Chubby" (1933 – 1972)

Big, nimble, easygoing regularfooter from Honolulu, Hawaii; surfing's double-extra-large embodiment of aloha spirit in the 1950s and early '60s. Mitchell was born (1933) and raised in Honolulu, the son of a fireman, and began surfing at age 12. He moved to California in the early '50s, where he played football for San Jose State College; in the late '50s and early '60s he lived in the southwest Los Angeles County town of Manhattan Beach.

Slow moving on land, with near-narcoleptic sleep patte...