This short take on soon-to-be IPS founder Fred Hemmings was embedded in a longer article titled "Summer in the Islands," which ran in the July 1975 issue of Tracks. This version has been slightly edited.

Fred Hemmings was the world champion back in 1968. He still surfs occasionally and runs the Smirnoff Pro-Am each November. He says most of the surfers don’t understand him, but he knows why. “I’m different, you know? Short hair, conservative, and I do a lot of things besides surf. They just don’t dig that.”

 different. Hemmings is 29 years old, thickset and powerful, with short well-brushed dark hair and a quick smile. He wears tinted glasses, and tapered slacks and, well, yes, I'd say he is a conservative.

I met Fred at the Outrigger Canoe Club in Waikiki and he was eager to talk about his ideas on professional surfing. He wants to establish a world pro circuit with a rating system to determine who gets in the contests. The contests will be televised, and herein lies a problem. "The surfers have got to start thinking of themselves as performers," says Hemmings, lighting another menthol to match the one he’s already got sitting in the ashtray. Pause, while he orders another low-calorie beer. "They've got to play to their audience. They’ve got to be prepared to put themselves out a bit for the sake of the sponsors—that's what professionalism is all about.”

The conversation then turns to politics, which play a bigger part in Hemmings’ life these days than riding waves. "You guys ever hear of the domino theory? Well, it’s happening. Vietnam's gone, Korea’ll be next, and watch out Australia.” One of Fred’s jobs is raising funds for the Republican Party in Hawaii. He’s heavily involved in getting his buddy elected governor.

Next we talk about Kaena Point, which has never been ridden. Fred says he’d do it for a hundred grand, and he’d have a life belt and a rope leading to a helicopter hovering above the break. There'd be no more risk involved than in Evil Knieval's canyon jump. We nod in agreement and order another round because it’s not every day you get to drink with the 1968 World Surfing Champion.

"AN AFTERNOON WITH FRED HEMMINGS," BY PHIL JARRATT (1975)

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