Dewey Weber

Dewey Weber, born David Earl Weber in Denver in 1938, was an American surfer who became one of the best known figures of California surf culture in the 1950s and 1960s. His family moved to Manhattan Beach when he was five, and he grew up as a lifeguard, a three-time national Duncan yo-yo champion and a high school wrestling champion before surfing took over. He sharpened a distinctive style of quick footwork up and down the board in Hawaii, which earned him the nickname The Little Man on Wheels, and an image of him at Makaha from the 1957 film The Big Surf became the symbol of the United States Surfing Association. He appeared in nearly every surf film of the era. In 1960 he founded Weber Surfboards in Venice Beach, built a red-jacketed team to promote the brand, and sold roughly 10,000 Performer boards in 1966 and 1967. He died in 1993, and his family still runs the business.