Bud Llamas on the cover of the February 1980 Surfer.
Editor’s note: The most recent edition of the Top Fucking 5 is a submission from semi-regular commenter Elwood.
A list of the most overrated Southern California pros from years past would need to be a top 50 list, but what about the most underrated pros to come out of Southern California — guys that had all-world talent and although they had some success and notoriety, never realized their full potential? I followed and witnessed these dudes surfing throughout ’80s and ’90s. Not sure what any are up to these days, but there’s got to be some good stories bouncing around.
5) Peter King: Known more for his MCing, religious slants, music and overall quirkiness, but the dude frikin’ ripped back in the day. Never had much success in contests. In Chris Bystrom’s Beyond Blazing Boards Chuy Reyna and PK surfed Isla Natividad and he was the clear standout of the movie. Like everyone else listed below, when the waves were good the dude separated himself from everyone around.
4) Chris Menzie: Heavy footed goofyfooter that didn’t get out of San Diego much. Having part of my family in Pt. Loma I got to see this dude just blow up waves. He did need a legit wave to show his skills. I remember him surfing perfect 20’+ lefts breaking off/past the end of OB pier about 20 years ago. Ripped Bird Rock and killed the lefts at Trestles. Just the fact he’s the only real pro to come from OB is got to be worth something.
3) Bud Llamas: Not exactly a no-name and got plenty of exposure. Had some tour success but don’t think the dude travelled well. When I was a grom he just dominated the HB pier. I remember the first OP Pro and I was so stoked to see the tour, then I realized with the exception of Cheyne Horan none of them surfed it as good as Bud. Remember watching him destroy Hans Hedemann or someone like that in a heat only to lose…so began my disillusionment with surf contests.
T-1) Mark “Smerk” Mangan: I was at Lowers sometime in the mid-’80s hanging on the beach with photogs all around. All the big name national pros were out (Mike Lambresi, Noah Budroe, Barr, Daley, etc.) and Smerk surfed so much better than all of them. Some kid asked one of the photographers who he was and someone else interrupted and said “Smerk. He’s the best surfer around.” The kid says “that’s weird ’cause I never see him in mags.” So goes the story of Smerk. The Aussies saw his talent. When the pro-junior was an invite contest they picked 3 surfers — Gerlach, Archy and Smerk. Insane barrel rider, cutting edge surfer, sucked in contests and smoked a lot of weed. He was a mellow version of Wardo before Wardo.
T-1) Chris Frohoff: Despite the homo hair the dude was an amazing surfer. Like everyone else on list he needed a decent wave to show his skills. He did alright on the tour and even made a Pipe Masters final, but he never had any consistent success. Derek Hynd called him one of the best surfers on the tour other than Occy and Curren, but he always drew Occy in early round heats for some reason. He would have easily been a regular top 10 pro if the tour was held in good waves back then. If you ever saw him surf legit Breakwall you’d be amazed. —Elwood
Nugable 
1. Doug Silva
2. Colin Smith
3. Jeremy Sommerville
4. The Ortega Brothers
5. fucking Todd Martin bitch.
i grew up in leucadia an hung with todd martin .an by far he stills is in my book the greatest small wave surfer in the world sorry for all u jibbers newan schoolers he was doing those manuvers when u were in ur daddys sack.i surfed the wsa for years and one alot of contest because of todd martins influence.
Todd is talking in jail after being out this “this time” 25 days. What a loss of a good SAN DIEGO COUNTY surfer.
6. Travis Molina
Nice work Elwood!
seriously, who gives a shit? california’s full of burnouts, has-beens and could-have-beens, what’s new? you grow up in the worldwide hub of surf media and you wanna talk about being underrated? if you can’t make the most of yourself with that kind of overhyped exposure, you’re never gonna do it anywhere.
make a top 5 list of underrated surfers from australia, or the east coast, or brazil, or south africa, and then maybe you’ve got something to talk about. there’s never been a surfer from cali that’s been underrated, it’s impossible. this post should be titled “top fucking 5 list of guys who californians still hold on to because they want to believe somewhere deep down inside that they’re not a bunch of overhyped burnouts, has-beens, and could-have-beens, even though they really are and this list kind of proves it.”
you wanna find somebody who was underrated through the 80’s? go take a look at Jimbo Sampson. fucker ripped harder than anyone, even though he grew up in probably the most wave-starved region of the US (besides maybe the great lakes), and had a fraction of the hype or random-burnout-california-pro-of-the-80s-#347. and don’t give me any shit about “oh these guys could only surf in good waves.” that’s bullshit, and it’s a cop-out, and you know it. California is for wankers.
please find something better to write about (or something better to post, i know this was user-submitted)
@required
“there’s never been a surfer from cali that’s been underrated.”
Do they sell penis pumps for West Coast envy at Ron Jon?
YEAH jimbo sampson! right the fuck on with every sentence of your post, son.
f- cali, f the west coasts good ol’ boys club and fuck this douchebag “nug”
who is one of the biggest left coast ass rim lickers alive.
Yep, Todd Martin and Silva for sure. Billy Stang?
Gilligan, Randall, and Vince…….
@required,
You spelled Mark’s name wrong… it’s M-A-R-K… not C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A.
Who the fuck is Jimbo Sampson?
Who the fuck cares?
Required=Asshat
@Required…… Bring it on bitch!
You saying that Jimbo surfs better at 8′ lowers in the mid 80’s than Smerk… ya right!
nug: you suck. you’re unoriginal, disrespectful, and on top of that you’re not even funny. do they sell Lewis Samuels envy penis pumps in Cali?
my comment is simply that it’s not possible for a surfer to be underrated in the land of the overrated and over-hyped. more than half of all surf coverage happens in the stretch from point conception to the mexico border, and you’re telling me that somehow it’s possible to be underrated and underexposed? you can paddle out hungover and crap your wetsuit mid-bottom turn in Cali and somebody will put it in a magazine and hype you as the next badass brosef to shred the surf.
how many times a year does some socal kid get pushed as the next big thing in surfing only to fall off the map a few months later and nobody ever hears from him again? it seems like for some reason the surf mags feel that an air reverse pulled at Lowers is a million times cooler than a better one pulled anywhere else.
there’s kids in SB county that can’t pull a proper power turn and have better sponsorship deals than Bede Durbidge, and you wanna tell me there’s ANYONE in socal that’s underrated? maybe underrated on the socal hype-machine scale, but not really.
go ask Adriano DeSouza what it is to be underrated, he’ll tell you. cuz obviously nobody in hype-land has a clue.
p.s. i grew up there, and i left.
@ Cote,
I give you Silva and Colin. For someone so seemingly disinterested in surfing Silva ripped and had a killer style… he did have a nice run of Quicksilver love. Colin ripped but did get a lot of coverage. That SJ article a few years back of him wrestling with Tiger sharks was nuts. Plus he’s smart enough to trade Nubes for Swamis. Also, FYI your brother has been killing it out at Swamis this week… in case he’s supposed to be working or something.
Don’t rat me out Elwood!
@required,
“…it’s not possible for a surfer to be underrated in the land of the overrated and over-hyped.”
Brilliant. The logic is astounding.
So, in Hollywood, there is no such thing as an underrated actor or actress? In the San Fernando Valley, there is no such thing as an underrated porn star? This isn’t 1937. The civilized world isn’t living in an isolationist environment – oblivious to everything outside their bubble. Sure, the surf corporations are all here, but the shills that run those operations? They’re off dropping cash in West Oz, Indo Boat trips, and Tavarua. When back in this shithole called SoCal, they have access to millions of shitty clips sent in by “the next big thing” from Perth to Hawaii to Sumatra to Timbuttfuckingtoo, thanks to the internet. Is it possible that these corporate jack-offs could miss something below their own growing noses?
Bitch, please. Take that weak-ass shit outta this house!
Your comments read like a Rosetta Stone of retard husbandry. The layers, the layers! Every paragraph – assuming the line breaks weren’t accidental – is like a shiny quarter dropped into tourist binoculars overlooking a Grand Canyon filled with feces. You have to respect its grandeur even as you dry heave when the wind shifts.
Please daddy, can I have another?
Required has a point, stop being so defensive California elite. The debate shouldn’t inspire such insecurity in those so superior.
Though I appreciate Senor Rottmouths passion.
As for Cote’s obvious lean toward San Diego burn outs….
John Mc Clure: functional airs 10 years before Flame followed Christian down to Lowers. Add in carving 360’s, variations on every roundhouse finish and true roof floaters.
Mike Lamm: The apex of Malibu performance era found one goofey foot capable of testing Sarlo Dominance. Lamm was Bobby Martinez before BM had been born.
Dino Andino: Took the mantra of Pottz to the NSSA and changed amateur surfing.
Dave Parmenter: delivered God (curren) a world title at Bells by beating that piece of flappy shit Kong. Don’t like the guy, but if he never found his name in type again, Dave had done his Cali duty.
Ritchie Collins: gifted, but was only glorified by an Australian corpo’s videos while he was ignored as much as possible in his home state. Single handedly made the ASP Elite (Lynch, Hardman, Winton, Ho, Kong, Garcia, etc) look stale. It’s debatable whether he was underrated, but his and Christian’s effects are still relevant. The door to modern riding was opened late in that era. King Kelly and Chris Brown marched through that open door Ritchie had swung wide.
Drew Littlemore from Windansea.
Jeff Spencer from the Lane.
Silva is still ripping and living on Oahu and rockin and rollin with RCJ.
Anyone remember Parmenter paddling out during the OP Pro on a longboard and just killing it?
@USDA
Sure he has a point. There are plenty of overrated guys from Socal. Perhaps that’s why Elwood’s first sentence states “A list of the most overrated Southern California pros from years past would need to be a top 50 list.”
But a solid comment nevertheless.
What about RIcky Whitlock? He owns Moonshine and is quite the ladies man. I’ve rocked up after a 12 hour Swami’s session to find RW taming some cougars in the parking lot.
Hey Cali girl, you should roll into Windansea and watch me kill the rights… maybe we could share a pitcher afterwards. Things that make you go hmmmmm….
Does anyone else think Elwood is Nug’s roomate?
How about
Reyes Gonzales
Chris Noonan
Bud Llamas HAS GOT to be the greatest surfer name of all time. I wonder if that dude ever called his history teacher a dick as he ripped his class schedule.
Why isn’t Occy or Shaun Tomson on this list? Shit, wrong list. My bad.
Seriously, nice job Elwood.
Mark@ 15:59 is not me. Mike is drunk. Again.
Nug you need to fuckin regulate your shit bro. I don’t need someone like Mike saying extremely stupid, not funny bullshit in my name. I have never commented under someone elses name. Perhaps I have created characters but I would never lower myself to speaking in tongues in place of an actual legitimite other person.. And for the record Mike has gay tendencies. At least that is what his long time friends claim. And he did it for DOUGH. Ouch.
You have a responsibility Nug. Ya gotta pay the price for your glory. Do it Boy or I will be knockin HARD!
Wow, you guys read it first… a “conservative” Republican shill, high on Rush Limbaugha and Sean Hannity, begging Nuggable for REGULATION!!!!! Oh, that’s rich. How about single payer, bitch.
The hypocrisy of Republicans is a hamster wheel of circular logic that always falls on their personal best interest.
Don’t flatter yourself Marky boy, we are all not so conflicted.
Drunk and happy, Mike
@ Required, USDA, Mike, etc.
Think about it…. the dudes on my list, although they got a decent amount of press… none of them ever won a major contest, tour, had sponsorship from any of the big corps, and probably didn’t make dick for $$ from surfing.
McClure & Lamm… those are good ones. Those dudes both frickin ripped. And to think there was a time when LA actually had good surfers.
1983 Elwood, El Nino… greatest three weeks in Malibu history and a farewell. That season changed the bottom and the best wave in the state expired. Sorry Nug, it wasn’t 28th Street. LA surfing changed with it’s petri dish closed indefinitely and Malibu turned back into pulled back shots of first point and long boarding.
I didn’t mind “requires” premise and I was amused by your virulent responses. Like you were convincing yourselves… sounded almost Christian. Could’ve been me, but not eloquent enough.
Ooooppps, that isn’t Kosher to say. Allah be praised. Socialism rules for Banks!
Breakwall was rarely legit, just a clean entry into a closeout with perfect points a mere 3 miles south. Frohoff was well received for what he was. Being on the National Team with God has its sacrifices.
PK was/is a consummate self promoter. He found his ceiling himself and lowered it pretending to be Donovan’s inspiration.
Llamas was hyped to death. The latter day Danny Nichols anyone?
Smirk surfed like a good surfer, Lowers was not his throne.
Keep fishing Elwood, or ask your roommate to view our email address’. I’m proud of my contributions, even if Jamon fails to respond…
Jimmy Hogan. um…duh. guy ripped so hard.
Todd Martin is an obvious missfire. It could be argued that T Knox is underrated. He might be the 2nd greatest surfer in the history of Cali and he’s not afforded such praise.
As for East versus West overtones. Run a list of the 10 best surfers from each coast over the past 20 years. I’ll take the East Coast squad every time. Not sure what that means but it seems to say something about hype…
East vs. West?
The captain of my East Coast team would have to be SmyrnaJeff.
Anyone remember Tag Gasparian? WTF happened to that guy? I remember watching him in the late ’80s around North County SD…..then he vanished. John Glomb was another classic. Ah, the good ‘ol days.
Tag’s fishing in Oahu, Glomb is shaping boards and doing art in Maui.
I propose from here on out that everyone post as Mark, and let God sort ’em out.
There was a kid named Bobby Mack on national team with Curren, et al. back in the day. True switchfoot, could throw and Occy-style roundhouse hack frontside, then switch and hit the rebound frontside. Or the opposite. Ripped every size of wave (including North Shore) and one hell of a cool humble cat.
Anyone but me even ever heard of him? I guess that’s my point.
Bobby at Pt. Dude and as a kid at Sunset Point, miss that guy!
Mike, did I fail to respond to something? If so, I owe you breakfast.
Most likely Required caught heat not because of his argument, but because of the dickheadish tone. Or maybe I’m missing something.
@Jamon Bagel
You’re not missing anything. And the logic required to make a counter to his argument work would make a pinworm’s taint throb with joy.
Silva’s dad swims in a speedo out front of his condo in SB every day, rain, shine, hot, cold, huge or flat. Silva used to roll there with Carrol etc. Dude’s not right in the head.
Fuck me Required…you’re stinging for a blue.
Lighten up mate, the criteria was ‘underrated’ and, up till a few years ago, the only way to get ‘rated’ was the contest route. As young Elwood has pointed out plenty of the fellas on the list ripped the bag but didn’t have a contest head.
Which would leave them underrated…
Go Bolts!!
How about Gary Clisby?
J-E-T-S!
Yeah baby, J-E-T-S!!!!!!
Nice onside kick Norm Turner!!!!!!
And 21 sulks off one more classless time with his face shield hiding the tears of a clown pouting. A playoff tradition!!!!!!!
Empty point surf and a Charger loss, Merry Christmas everyone!
The Chargers limp off the field just as the first raindrops start to fall.
The season is over and so is the glorious high pressure that has provided these beautiful conditions.
Remember the last true El Nino? 97′-98′? Pumping perfection November through January then it rained 6 weeks straight.
I’m headin outta town myself. It was a good run here at Nugable but the time has come to say goodbye my inner Lewis and get on to what I was born to do.
Thanks for the memories gentlemen.
Take it easy Mark.
Adios Amigo!!!!
G’Day Mark!
Mark is quitting?
Hmmmmmm.
You can tell Mark to stay the hell off of Vancouver Island.
Mark never had what it took to comment on pro surfing anyway.
And the guy has talent but still insists on riding a longboard 80% of the time.
What a waste.
He isn’t kidding this time.
This morning he kicked me halfway across the house after he got back from surfing La Jolla.
Told his wife he ” just felt like kicking” in that goofy Forrest Gump accent he does.
Now there is a moving van in the driveway and his surfboard has a for sale sign on it in the driveway.
It is ” the bad day “.
Tortured souls…. Smyrna, hog, fidel, Ralph brew, Eddie…. all prisoners of one man’s uncontrolled impulse. A Palin-esque escape courtesy of four letters… QUIT.
I’ve got news for you Mark, the sheep all cramp together to avoid the rain and the wolves have all the waves to themselves… just like the old days when there were less sheep. It’s called a silver lining and you can not often see it when the high pressure is parked over you.
Mahalo my friend for your resignation and Aloha, which I think means goodbye this profound moment.
Mark is the Brett Favre of surf blog commentating. Except I don’t think he’s got any championship rings.
Man,
that Mark guy sure was underrated.
Gonna miss him.
What about all of the underground Malibu guys?… From the Surf Punks, on.
Uhh, I think they’re guys.
Wow, who knew breakfast was so funny. Flavorless and un nutritional dough with some salty pork adds up to incisive commentary encapsulating the paradigm that is Mark. Well done.
Consider this boys, if Jamon is indeed metaphorically correct and Mark has “retired” again, where will he succeed next?! LIkebitchin is gone, Post surf is dead… maybe Nealdude is finally getting the contributor of his dreams! Go Mark!
In pondering the answer to your own question, Mike, you might consider this… Upon nagivating here to the Nugs domain, I accidentally transposed a couple of letters and learned that http://www.nubagle.com is available. Hmmmmmmmmmm.
And yes, I typed in “nagivating” on purpose…just to prove my point. Bagels are poor typists.
Genius Jamon…. Mark can REGULATE his commentors!
I see weekly posts from such luminaries as Ann Coulter and Bill Kristol!
Throw in the occassional priest and the reluctant pro ( see hobgood) and tie it all together with Alabama Football.
Considering Marks menagerie of personalities, it could be quite an exercise in masterbation…
I just looked up nagivating… a cross between aggravating and nagging, or Chris Rocks guide to marriage.
Cheers Bagle!
How about the Mcnulty brothers from San Clemente? Or John Gothard from Newport? That guy was a style master.
Hey Nug if you want your site to progress you need to lose the Mark and Mike show. One is an idiotic conservative that thinks he knows everything about pro surfing and the other is obviously full of himself after hearing him defend his business a couple of weeks ago.
” I create WORLD CLASS ART!!!!!”
GTFOOH! Hearing that I could just picture some flaming queen like the wedding planner fag in that movie Father of the Bride.
Losing those two would legitimize your gig Nug. And trust me you need it.
Ouch…
Frank, you’re just plain nagivating.
But Mike & Mark, you both should be honored that a blog can be “legitimized” by eliminating you. That’s bigtime! And kind of mafia-esque.
Frank,
Lets be real. Comments are just comments. They don’t legitimize any site any more than a letter to the editor legitimizes any newspaper. Except Blapshemy Rottmouth. Come to think of it has anyone ever seen Blasphemy and Nug in the same place? Just sayin’.
I like that Nug doesn’t moderate the comments and lets us say whatever we want. It’s a breath of fresh air in the sterilized surf industry, no matter how stale some commentors can be at times.
I live in a world where important, life changing shit happens at warp speed 3 times a day.
Thank God I get a couple of spare moments to relax and surf my local reefs (pv) and feel the rush of surfing.
However the overwhelming air of fucking superiority that is on display by the low talent commenters on this site makes me want to stay away from the surf world altogether.
Not enough REAL PEOPLE in this fake, cyber world that you nobodies call home.
And that includes you CHRIS FUCKING COTEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!
Frank Woodbury is PISSED AS FUCK and he is NOT gonna take it ANYMORE!!!! BLUE-VEINING!!!!
FRANK WOODBURY!!!! PIPE DOWN, TURD, NOBODY IS HOLDING A GUN TO THAT DUSTMITE INFESTED, EMPTY SHELL ON TOP OF YOUR SHOULDERS!!!GET A GODDAM GRIP AND SQUARE YOUR SORRY ASS AWAY NUMBNUTS!!!!
THAT IS ALL!!!
@Frank, I mean Mark, what kind if life changing shit at warp-speed? Like some yahoo from Perris wants to kickthe tires on an F-450 Superduty??
Allright! Things are getting fun again and after the Chargers flame out and with five days of shit conditions coming up we need the distractions
Five days of shit conditions?
Sorry I missed that!
Mike, you should bottle your overwhelming air of fucking superiority and sell it to humble “real” guys like Frank. Ou de OAFS, comes with a free wax comb.
Doug Silva used to babysit me and my brother in Solana Beach, seriously.
Frohoff should be winner by a mile. The guy had top 5 talent, but was consistently screwed by the judges. Watch a replay of the ’86 Pipe Masters final. He clearly dominated in Heavy 8′-10′, First Reef bombs, but the judges placed him in 3rd-behind Derek Ho and Tom Carroll. Also, have to dispute the fact that he only surfed well in big waves. Although he could smoke anyone in huge surf, his small wave act was very solid, too. I remember him beating a stacked field to win the San Clemente PSAA event in thigh-high surf(must have been around 1990). Very impressive for a big guy. His early round heats vs. Occy and Curren were the stuff of legend. Every touring pro and all the media would show up to watch-knowing it would probably be the most dynamic heat of the event. Bad luck and an inability to kiss ass, led to an inordinate amount of 3-2, split-decision losses. All you really need to know about Fro’s surfing ability is that Tom Curren commented a couple years ago, that when they had competed against each other growing up, “Chris Frohoff taught me how to lose.” I can’t imagine Curren saying that about any other name on this list… Also, any list of underrated, Southern California surfers would not be complete without the name David Eggers. His fall from grace was so ugly and well publicized, that we tend to forget about his prodigious talent level. He was a true child prodigy-waxing grown men in competition at the tender age of 13. If drugs had not gotten in the way, he had true World Champion potential.
kevin reed. ’nuff said
also, danny “yoda” johnson, also an early burnout and the only central coaster invited to the op junior. california’s answer to tom carroll, bar none.
oh. not socal guys–whoops. but still a key part of any underground/underrrated california list
I still know Smerk well. He still kills it. He only competed so wouldn’t have to get a job. Nobody ever loved to just go surf more than him. Choice between beach full of adoring fans or good waves any where by himself he is by himself. Slot of the “know” guys won’t even surf without a photog, what the he’ll is up with that? I’ve seen em all close up. Not one had more talent than Smerk.