Mike Eaton, at age 65, holds up the Oldest Finisher’s trophy following the 2000 Catalina Classic. With him are Gibby Gibson, who co-founded the race in 1955 and Buddy Bohn, who resurrected the race in 1982. The trophy was carved by Bob Hogan, who previously held the oldest finisher’s title. Hogan completed the Classic in 1995, at age 63, four decades after having co-founded the race with Gibson. Photo by Kevin Cody
by Mike Purpus
Mike Eaton went with fellow shaper and Palos Verdes childhood friend Phil Becker to Hawaii’s North Shore in the mid ‘70s to make big wave boards for pro surfers like Palos Verdes native like Jeff Hackman and Peter “PT” Towend and his fellow Bronzed Aussies. I borrowed a few of their big wave guns for my heats in The Duke Kahanamoku Surfing Invitational, The Smirnoff Pro/Am Surfing Invitational and The Hang Ten Surfing Championships.
Eaton’s passing follows fellow shaper Becker’s, by just 7 days
SHARE Mike Eaton lines up at the start of the 2006 Hennessey s U.S. Paddleboard Championships in Hermosa Beach. He is paddling a Tom Blake kook box, like the board he learned to surf at Bluff Cove in 1950 . Photo by Kevin Cody
by Kevin Cody
Pioneer surfer and surfboard shaper Mike Eaton passed away at his home from a stroke on the Big Island of Hawaii last Thursday, at the age of 86.
Eaton’s death came just seven days after his childhood friend, Big Island neighbor and fellow South Bay surfer and shaper Phil Becker died of cancer, at the age of 81.
Winning at Malibu, and nearly killed at Sunset on Phil's boards easyreadernews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from easyreadernews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Phil Becker (in the straw hat) and Jared Eaton holding up their $5 Tom Blake kook box. Others in the photo are (left to right) Mike Eaton, Eddie Clark, Ricky Burns, Richie Clark, and Frankie Shinn at the end with the zinc oxide nose. The picture was taken by May Clark, Eddie’s wife, around ‘54 or ‘55, according to the Eatons’ sister Ann (Eaton) Medve. Photo courtesy of Steve Mangiagli
by Kevin Cody
Phil Becker was the most prolific and most under celebrated surfboard shaper in history, by his own design.
Becker used three Rockwell planers, all bought in 1965 and periodically rebuilt, to shape over 130,000 surfboards. The closest other person to shape that many boards was Hobie Surfboards’ Terry Martin, who shaped an estimated 80,000 surfboards before passing away in 2012, at age 75. Channel Islands’ Al Merrick is thought to have shaped 45,000 surfboards.