Surfing’s first real pro, Corky Carroll, aside from being a five-time U.S. Surfing Champion (1966-1970), has also been an author, musician, and TV personality as well as a surf instructor and surfboard salesman, tennis pro, and ski instructor. He has appeared in three movies and several videos, and was featured in over a dozen commercials for Miller Lite Beer along the way. Born on September 9, 1947 in Alhambra, California, Carroll grew up in Surfside between the Seal and Huntington beaches, and he got his first surfboard in 1958, which all but sealed the course of his life. By 1959 he was entering surfing competitions and placing well, and in 1963 he was crowned the U.S. Junior Champion. With a board style that wasn’t particularly flashy but was highly efficient and functional, Carroll became the U.S. Men's Champion in 1966, 1967, and 1969, and overall Champion from 1966 through 1970, a period when he was considered by many to be the best surfer in the world. When he eased away from competitive surfing in the early '70s, Carroll turned to guitar and released a series of spirited surf-themed albums beginning with Laid Back in 1971, following it with Surfer for President in 1979, Beachtown Rhapsody in 1997, and Visions of Paradise in 2002, among others. He also wrote a couple of books, Surf Dog Days and Bitchin' Nights, which was published in 1988, and Pier Pressure, which arrived ten years later in 1998. He continued to play gigs, record, and write into the first decade of the 21st century. ~ Steve Leggett, Rovi