“California Skateboard Team Due to Put On Exhibition at Ward’s”
Monday at Capital Plaza
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Over and under the limbo stick go George Trafton, left, and Dave Hilton, right, members of Super Surfer Skateboard team.
[1965-11-18 Los Angeles Times] |
All American boys make up super surfer skateboard team—the members of the Vita-Pakt Super Surfer National Championship Skateboard Team all come from different backgrounds and have different interests, but all have three important things in common: the boys are all sun-tanned Californians, all are expert surfers, and all are among the most skillful skateboarders in the nation.
The Super Surfer team has become known to millions of Americans over the past year through their appearances before huge crowds in cities over the nation, on national TV programs, and in national newspapers and magazine spreads.
Their bright blue and white T-shirts which they wear in competitions and demonstrations, and their neat blue blazers which they wear while traveling have come to be identified as the uniforms of the skateboard champions of the nation.
Coached by internationally known surfboard designer and surfing champion Hobie Alter, and managed by surf and skateboard expert Dave Rochlen, the team is sponsored by Vita-Pakt Citrus Products Company of California whose national program of safety education in the use of skateboards has been hailed by safety experts youth groups, and recreation officials.
Reading alphabetically, the background of the team members reads like biographies of the All-American Boy... which everyone who has seen the team agrees the boys are.
John Fries is blond, has brown eyes, and is a 14-year-old junior high student. He also plays football and baseball. His father is an advertising executive and the Fries family lives in Brentwood, California.
Dave and Steve Hilton live in a beach-front home in Santa Monica. Steve is 14, has blue eyes, and is in the 9th grade. Dave is 12, has brown eyes, and is in the 7th grade. Both are blonds. With the ocean directly in front of their home, both have always been outstanding surfers, and also like baseball and football. Their father is Barron Hilton, owner of the San Diego Chargers professional football team.
Danny Bearer is a 15-year-old blond, blue-eyed surfer who lives in Pacific Palisades. His father is a tile manufacturer, and Danny’s other hobbies are basketball, football, baseball and tennis. Danny is in junior high school.
Torger Johnson of Brentwood. Calif., is a brown-haired, blue-eyed 13-year-old who attends junior high school. His father is an attorney, and Torger is an expert body surfer and skier.
Woody Woodward, 11, newest member of the team, lives with his family in a beach house at Malibu, Calif., and is also a good surfer. Woody, whose father is a real estate broker, is in the fifth grade and an avid artist in his spare time.
The parents of all the team members share their sons’ enthusiasm for skateboarding. The general consensus among the parents is that skateboarding offers their children a fine sport, a chance to learn responsibility and teamwork, and an opportunity to demonstrate a healthy, active sport to the rest of the youth of the nation.
