Rory Russell

Surfer Rory Russell was born in 1953 on an army base in Wurzburg, West Germany. His father was an army attache and his mother was a schoolteacher. Russell grew up on military bases in Kansas and Pennsylvania before eventually moving with his family to Oahu, Hawaii at age ten. Rory began surfing at age eleven and moved once again with his family to the North Shore beachfront at age fifteen. Mentored by champion surfer Jock Sutherland, Russell did well in the juniors division of the 1970 Hawaii State Championships, but it was his frequent appearances in surf documentaries made in the early to mid-1970's that really consolidated his status as a top tube rider at the Pipeline on Hawaii's North Shore. From 1973 to 1978 Rory excelled at the Pipeline Masters contest: He finished third in 1973, second in 1974, 1975, and 1978, and first in both 1976 and 1977. Moreover, Russell placed at number eight in the world pro tour circuit in the years 1976 and 1977. After quitting the world pro tour circuit in 1980, Rory went on to become the surfer representative for the Hawaii-based surfboard and surf gear company Lightning Bolt in the early to mid-1980's. Moreover, Russell also ran his own North Shore fishing charter business as well as has worked as a surf instructor since the 1980's and runs the Rory Russell Surfboards & Surf School in Kailua Kona, Hawaii.