Inductee Bio
In 1967 while growing up in Costa Mesa, Wayne Brown started surfing at the age of 15. When the short boards started getting popular and he couldn't afford to buy a new board, he modified his long board. His friends started asking him to modify theirs too, and this launched what eventually became Wayne Brown Surfboards.
At first he shaped boards under the name BC Surfboards (for Brown Company) from 1969 to 1971 when he changed the name to Wayne Brown Surfboards. He was making the surfboards in his backyard and when the orders became too many to handle at home, he opened up a factory in Costa Mesa along with a retail store on PCH in Huntington Beach in 1974.
About the same time, he started making Wayne Brown Skateboards. He was famous for his "Wayne Brown Kicktail" design.
He sponsored local kids, surfers and skateboarders, many of whom worked in his surf shop. He also ran ads in Surfer Magazine promoting his team.
Life changed and around 1979, he and a friend started importing Piping Hot wetsuits from Australia. At the time, there were only a couple of wetsuit manufacturers in the US and Wayne felt that if he could start manufacturing an Australian brand in the US, it would do well. So in 1981, he made a deal with Aleeda Wetsuits in Australia, opened a retail store on Main Street in Huntington Beach with a factory in the back of the store where he manufactured wetsuits. He introduced new colors of neoprene and made custom wetsuits, taking orders and having the wetsuit done within 24 hours. Aleeda began shipping wetsuits to surf shops all over the country. One of the largest dealers of Aleeda Wetsuits was Jack's Surf Shop on Main Street.
Wayne also started manufacturing body boards while on Main Street, under the name of "Airwaves", and sponsored many local bodyboarders. Aleeda remained on Main Street until they were forced to move their operations due to the redevelopment of downtown Huntington Beach. At that time Aleeda moved to another location on the other side of Huntington Beach where they remained until 1992 when they moved their location to Newport Beach.
Wayne sold Aleeda Wetsuits in 1992 when he semi-retired and he was able to spend more time surfing, golfing, fishing and traveling with his wife Fran.
In July of 2015 Wayne was diagnosed with a Glioblastoma brain tumor and given 12-18 months to live. He fought it with everything he had and lived for 31 months. On February 25, 2018, Wayne passed peacefully in his sleep with Fran by his side.
By Fran Brown
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