Buzzy Trent

Big wave surfer Buzzy Trent was born Goodwin Murray Trent Jr. on May 13, 1929 in San Diego, California. Raised in Santa Monica, California, Trent body surfed as a child and began surfing at the age of twelve. Moreover, Buzzy was a star football player in high school and even received a scholarship to attend the University of Southern California only to have his football career curtailed after he broke his leg in a game against Ohio State University. In the wake of this injury healing Trent decided to focus on surfing instead and worked as a Los Angeles County lifeguard prior to eventually moving to Hawaii in 1953 so he could ride the big waves that were indigenous to Hawaiian beaches. Buzzy subsequently established himself as one of the pioneers of big wave surfing alongside Greg Noll and George Downing. Trent gained international fame in 1953 when photographer Scoop Suzuki took a picture of Trent, Downing, and Woody Brown riding a 20-foot winter wave at Makaha, Hawaii that was one of the first widely published photos of big wave surfing. Outside of surfing, Buzzy was also an avid hang glider. Moreover, Trent worked as a fireman and as a construction worker for the Dillingham Corporation as well as had two children with his first wife Viola and married another woman named Gladys after Viola died in 1988. Buzzy died at age 77 at the Hale Ho Aloha nursing home in Honolulu, Hawaii on September 26, 2006. Trent was survived by his second wife Gladys, son Ivan, daughter Anna, and seven grandchildren.