Robert Wilson Simmons

Robert Wilson Simmons, known as Bob Simmons, was an American surfer and surfboard shaper born in Los Angeles in 1919 who is considered the father of the modern surfboard. He championed the round bottom board against the flat bottom design that eventually prevailed because it held better in steep waves, and he was among the first to use fiberglass and polyester resin to build lighter and more durable boards. As a young man he overcame a tumor on his left ankle and survived a serious motorcycle collision, and he studied mathematics at the California Institute of Technology without finishing. He first rode a surfboard at age twenty at Newport Beach, on the advice of doctors, and drowned while surfing at Bird Rock in San Diego in 1954.