WATCH: Cocoa Beach Native Kelly Slater Advances to Next Round at Billabong Pipe Masters in North Hawaii
By Space Coast Daily // December 9, 2020
LIVE COVERAGE
ABOVE VIDEO: Cocoa Beach native Kelly Slater is ready to compete in Heat 8 against Aussies’ Wade Carmichael and Connor O’Leary at the Billabong Pipe Masters.
HAWAII – Cocoa Beach native Kelly Slater is ready to compete in Heat 8 against Aussies’ Wade Carmichael and Connor O’Leary at the Billabong Pipe Masters on Wednesday.
Slater, 48, has won 11 world surfing championships and is widely regarded as the greatest professional surfer of all time.
As a graduate of Cocoa Beach High School and Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame Inductee, Slater is Brevard County’s most notorious athlete.
ABOVE VIDEO: Kelly Slater was inducted into the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame in 2012. (Space Coast Daily Video)
Florida’s East Coast is home to many well-known and professional surfers dating all the way back to the 1930s, but one story that hits close to home is Cocoa Beach’s native Kelly Slater. Slater, born and raised in Cocoa Beach, Florida, is an 11-time world champion surfer and can be found on the cover of many surfing magazines at any given time.
In 1984, Slater won his first of four U.S. Surfing Championship titles; two in the Menehune division and two in the Boys’ division. At the age of 14, Kelly Slater won the Eastern Surfing Festival at Florida’s Canaveral Pier and turned down the money prize to keep an amateur status.
At the age of 16, Slater turned pro and the locals on Florida’s Space Coast couldn’t keep their eyes off of Slater as he dominated the surfing community.
A good-looking man that offered a Florida-vibe, people referred to his allure as “Slatermania,” and compared him to a young Elvis Presley. He was even included in the “50 Most Beautiful People” by People in 1991, and every local was swooning over their very own superstar from Cocoa Beach, Florida.
At the age of 20, Kelly Slater was pro-surfing’s youngest world champion. Over the next several years, Slater mastered his skills and won several titles including Pipeline Masters, Quicksilver Pro, and many more. His 11th title came in 2011, at the age of 39, all while his local hometown continued to cheer him on.
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