Shaun Tomson, 1975. Photo: Jeff Divine

Tomson (right) with Wayne Bartholomew. Photo: Dan Merkel

Shaun Tomson, Jeffreys Bay. Photo: Art Brewer

Shaun (left), Michael Tomson, John Whitmore, 1970

Shaun Tomson, Burleigh, 1977. Photo: Dan Merkel

Shaun Tomson was the pro surfer of IPS founder Fred Hemmings’ dreams. To use a marketing phrase that was just beginning to catch on, Tomson was “the complete package”: bright and earnest, polite and dependable, a deadly competitor who was never anything less than a perfect sportsman. All that, plus he had an aristocratic blow-dried handsomeness that earned him modeling assignments from Calvin Klein and GQ. Everything about Tomson was above-average, and over the course of a long career he some...