Wayne Bartholomew, Rabbit to his friends, is the godfather of pro surfing. Contests existed in the 70’s, but no one made any money, in fact no one believed you could, except for Rabbit. He saw that surfing was athletic theatre which could be exploited by companies in the form of sponsorship and with his flamboyant style.

Surrounded by other legends like Shaun Thomson and Mark Richards he dragged them all along, and the fledgeling pro tour was born. They became the first celebrities of surfing with Rabbit at one point being sponsored by Smirnoff and appearing all over the globe. He won a world title, managed to annoy the whole of Hawaii with his brash style, but kickstarted pro surfing as we know it. Later to be president of the ASP world tour at a time it was faltering and revitalised the professional side of the sport once more.