"The SURFER Interview with Dean Randazzo," by Chris Mauro, ran in the October 2003 issue of SURFER. Randazzo was 34. This version has been slighted shortened and edited.

How far removed did Jersey feel from the surfing world when you grew up there?

It wasn’t even in the realm of what you’d consider a surfing environment. As far as everyone else was concerned, the chance of someone coming out of Jersey and doing well in surfing was about as likely as somebody coming off Lake Michigan today. But it’s come a long way since then. There are tons more people surfing in New Jersey now.

Were you aware that surfing wasn’t normal behavior for that area?

No. We didn’t know any better. When you’re a kid you don’t know or care what’s going on outside the bubble you’re in. We were so fired up on surfing it wouldn’t have mattered.

Yeah, standing up on those little blue and white foam boards.

Exactly. We’d run people over all day long on those things.

Were there any guys in the area who surfed well before you came along?

A few, yeah. Steve Dwyer, the Maverick’s guy, he was a little bit older than us and he was one of the main guys from where I grew up. But our crew was pretty isolated, even from the rest of the East Coast.

Once you left home how did you feel the rest of the surfing world viewed you guys?

Well, you have to remember that in the early '80s there was a lot happening in board design, wetsuits and surf fashion. But basically we were still getting used to the '70s. Our equipment was a good ten years behind Florida, let alone everyone on the West Coast, so coming out to California was like traveling to the moon. Everyone’s riding thrusters with these new colorful wetsuits and we’re riding these hideous boards wearing dive suits. We felt like total aliens. Meanwhile, all the Californians had themselves way up on this pedestal and once you admitted you were from the East Coast they’d just say, “Ah, you poor thing.’’ But hey, look at us now.

How’d you get past that sort of reception?

We knew how to take abuse. To us, it was actually pretty lightweight because we grew up as total tough guys. It’s a culturally diverse area, lots of Jews and Italians mixing it up and we’d spend all day getting in each other’s faces, giving each other serious shit, that’s basically how you’re taught respect. It’s almost how you see it in the movies; the guy who’s the biggest wise guy is king. Older guys definitely beat up on the younger guys and when you got older you were told you had to push the younger guys around. That’s just how it worked. It looks sort of rough from the outside but it was good in a way because we were all taught to respect our elders.

So getting shit from scrawny little Californians wasn’t a problem for you guys?

No, because we were pretty skilled at giving it and taking it. If your friend had some girl he liked you made damn sure you abused him in front of her because you knew he’d be doing it to you.

I do remember some of those guys you first came out with being pretty damn funny.

Yeah, I ran with some colorful characters. I remember the first time we came out to California we didn’t know any better. We heckled everyone else like we did ourselves, and at first some of the guys out here didn’t know what to think. They thought we were being assholes or trying to start fights. We actually had to explain to them the more you abuse somebody the more you’re really saying you kinda like ‘em.

Speaking of challenges, surviving the Jersey winters is probably the biggest obstacle local surfers there have to face. Do you remember the first time you braved the snowy season?

Let’s not expose that. You know how bad sponsors discriminate. But yeah, like I said, we were 10 years behind in equipment. But just having that shitty beavertail was great because I could extend my surfing into about November. The next winter I got a long john to go underneath, the following year I got booties, and the year after that, gloves. I had a pretty classic outfit. Most of it was that Rubatex rubber you’d get from dive stores. There weren’t very many surf shops around. I still have that beavertail, actually. It zips in the front.

When did you realize you could surf well?

It’s sort of funny, one of the older guys saw me riding that pool toy thing and he came up to me on the beach and told me to try his surfboard. I was petrified. Not because of the waves or anything but because I thought he was setting me up to get my ass kicked. Guys did that. So I was like, “That’s not your board. I know that’s not yours. I’ll take it out and get my butt kicked later by some guy.” Finally though, after about 15 minutes of him reassuring me I wouldn’t get roughed up, I took it out.

Insane. I’d been standing on that little foamy thing trying to set a rail for years and I couldn’t do it. Suddenly I was surfing. To this day I can still perfectly remember cutting across the face for the first time. I set the rail and I was off and running down the line. I knew right away that was it. That was going to be my life.

With no immediate influences in the high-performance area, where did you turn for tips?

We’d basically just examine every page of the magazines each month. We’d sit there and look at what a guy was doing with his turn and dissect it to death, wondering how a guy’s arm got here and how his leg got there. Just by looking at the photo we were always trying to figure out where guys had come from and where they were going on the wave. Larry Bertlemann was our hero and Curren was just starting to come on. If a surf movie came to town, that was just a huge deal. That’d be grounds for a major party.

So you guys were sucked in from an early age?

Yeah, we were addicted. We’d look at pictures in magazines and think, “Okay, would you rather have this wave right here or Miss September here in this 

Were your parents backing the surfing thing up?

Yeah, my mom was pretty busy raising my sisters and me, but she was totally into it. But once I made the NSSA National Team I got in huge trouble at school for going on trips with the team. My teachers and principals didn’t back it at all. The thought of having a surf class at school was a total dream. I couldn’t believe guys had that on the West Coast.

You were on the National Team during its heyday. Was there a big sense of accomplishment being a part of that?

Not really. At the time they had to take people from each region to make up the team. So because they had the affirmative action thing going on I didn’t really feel like I’d beat all these other guys to make in on the team. They just needed somebody from New Jersey and another guy from Florida and Texas. But it was a big deal to go out to Hawaii with Ian Cairns and get thrown out at Sunset Beach for the first time.

Did you feel like you had something to prove?

Yeah, you have to remember for me to surf against Matt Archbold was a huge deal. After all, he’d had his shot in the mag, so just being around him was strange for my friends and me because we were totally starstruck by guys like Matt. Keep in mind we weren’t even doing ESA contests back home. We were operating in our little bubble until we were about 17. But to answer your question, yeah, I wanted to show people I was worthy of being picked.

So what route did you finally take to get your surfing career off the ground?

After high school, I took trips out to California and they just kept getting longer and longer. The first one was a month, the next was three months. I had a bunch of friends going to college there so eventually I just stayed and kept training and surfing the Bud Tour.

No sponsors. I mean, who’s going to back a kid from Jersey? At that time there was no surf market for me to affect, you know? Florida guys had a tough enough time getting sponsored, and there were some top guys coming out of there. The market situation has changed quite a bit, hasn't it? The surfing population in New Jersey has tripled compared to say 10 years ago.


I think there are just a lot more surfers everywhere.

People back there are definitely getting into the lifestyle aspect of it more, but for the most part, it’s still a very seasonal thing. It can get like Newport or Huntington in the summer but there are parts of Jersey that just shut down after Labor Day. They turn into ghost towns.

Tell us about your biggest accomplishments—obviously qualifying for the WCT in 1996 was a huge one, being the first and only guy from Jersey to do that.

Yeah, after being in California for a while Quiksilver helped me out a bit, but they dropped me because I wanted to go out and try to qualify instead of shoot photos. I don’t think they believed I could do it, so that sort of became my motivation.

How much money were you pulling in while trying to qualify?

About $500 a month in 1995, but I kept winning enough to make it to the next spot. I sometimes wonder how I made it but I did, all over the world. In a way, it made it all the more fulfilling when I qualified. So that was a huge accomplishment for me. But after that I still couldn't get sponsored. All I had at the time was Oakley and a little surf shop in Japan. But to be honest I didn’t care. I just wanted to surf and travel. If my primary motivation was making money I would have never gone into surfing.

That first WCT season is a tough one, isn't it?

I had some tough draws early in the season and you definitely have to adjust your surfing for that tour, and that takes a few heats to do. That’s why the first year out is the hardest for most guys.

Yet you’ve managed to keep your dream alive. It seems like every year you put in a landmark performance somewhere, like at Lower Trestles during the Rusty C5, or all those sessions at Salsipuedes. You have better sponsorship now than ever. What drives you?

That’s easy. I don’t know any better. I never thought about it like, “Okay, when I hit this age I’m going to be washed up.” I feel like I’m a fine bottle of wine that keeps getting better with age.

And what about the respect of all your peers? Now that you have it, is there a sense of accomplishment?

Yeah. It feels great. I never thought it would last this long or go this well. Ten years ago if you told me I’d still be out here doing it, doing better than ever, I would’ve laughed at you. I don’t think I ever thought I’d be in this position today.

What's been the key to your survival and success?

Just loving surfing and life. Even getting sick helped me in a way. It gave me a whole new outlook because I really wasn’t sure where it was headed for a time.

You were diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease a little over a year and a half ago. How did you discover it?

There was a lump in my neck that wouldn’t go away. I asked the doctor what was up and he told me to get it X-rayed. The first one said there was nothing there. So a few months later I did it again with a new doctor, and again there was nothing, but he told me to come back in a month. So I did and he ran some blood tests. When I came back from Australia I finally got a biopsy done and sure enough, cancerous. It was quite a nightmare process. Luckily I was insured. If I wasn’t I would have been ruined.

Yeah, Jason Bogle is dealing with that situation now, he's fighting Ewing's Sarcoma with no insurance.

Yeah, I didn’t even know that until earlier today. It’s weird how things happen sometimes because I started a cancer foundation last year just for people like him.

After I was diagnosed there was this period of, “Well, what’s going to happen here? I’ve got cancer so what do I do about it? Do I tell my sponsors or not?” I didn’t tell anyone at first, just my friends and family. Finally, I called Scott Daley at Body Glove and asked him what I should do about it. He said he’d support me either way. We could keep it hush-hush or come out with it. In the end, I figured coming out with it would be better so we could hopefully turn it into something positive.

At the US Open last year. Scott arranged for me to announce it where there would be some press and we got some attention, it was really cool. The rest of my sponsors were equally supportive. So my brother and I started a foundation and we’ve held a few big contests back in Jersey that have raised about $30,000 so far. The whole thing was to help people like Jason so I’ll have to get in touch with him and his family. Wow, I still can’t believe that. It’s surprising it doesn’t happen to more surfers though. A lot of guys don’t have insurance because they’re living paycheck to paycheck.

So how attached are you to your Jersey roots nowadays?

Very attached. That’s home. It will always be home. I go back at least three times a year.

Can you see yourself living back there again?

Who knows where I’m going. If I get a good job back there after surfing, I’m not opposed to going back. But the winters are still pretty tough, and at this point I’m still into trying to requalify. I made a vow to get in the best shape of my life after getting sick. Surfing is still my life.

And is your love for it as strong as ever?

Absolutely. It’s easier to take it for granted now that I’m out here in California, but that’s where going back and visiting home helps. It makes me appreciate what I’ve got. It’s been a pretty long road for me, and surfing has helped get me over all the valleys. There are so many lessons to learn; it's amazing how much surfing can teach you.

[Photos: Brian Nevins, Tom Dugan, Aaron Lloyd, Dick Meseroll]

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