| Inductee Bio
Pat started out as a sander in Surfside California with Rick James. They both worked for Rick Geech who taught Pat the trade. Later Pat moved on to Dewey Weber Surfboards.
Pat started riding for Greg Noll; Greg had the, Micky Dora and Rolf Arness models and also made a Pat O'Hare model. Greg said he didn't sell many of Pat's models so Pat began shaping in 58, he got really serious in about 63.
So in 1963 Pat arrived Cocoa Beach with Rick James, and started making James and O'Hare Surfboards. He didn't expect to stay long, it was his partner Rick James who originally wanted to move East permanently. Rick soon got homesick for California and Pat decided to stay.
After stints at Oceanside Surfboards, Pat concentrated on making his own O'Hare surfboards on a serious level and moved into a storefront in downtown Cocoa Beach. One day the surfing McRoberts family parents introduced themselves to Pat and wanted their kids to surf on his boards. It was a match made in heaven. Tommy McRoberts (in the ECSHOF) and brother Benji were naturals, two of the greatest surfing talents in East Coast Surfing history. The Tommy McRobert's Model soon became a top seller from Maine to Miami. Pat always had a very strong team of talent riding his boards and he rounded it off with another top surfer from California, Wayne Williams. Along the way Pat also made boards for Gary Propper, Claude Codgen, Greg Loehr, Jim Cartland and many other of the best surfers on the East Coast.
Today, over 50 years later, Pat is still an in demand legendary shaper working out of his backyard shaping room across the street from the beach at 12th street in Cocoa Beach. |
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