Rusty Miller

Champion regularfoot surfer Rusty Miller was born in 1943 in La Jolla, California. The son of an aeronautical engineer, Miller moved with his family to the North San Diego beach town of Encinitas at age five. Rusty first started surfing at age ten. Miller soon amassed an impressive track record at various surf contests held all over the world throughout the 1960's: He was a second place runner-up at the 1961 West Coast Championship and went on to finish fourth in the 1962 West Coast contest, was awarded a color television set for winning the 1965 KHJ Hermosa event, was invited to the first inaugural Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing contest in Hawaii (he was a finalist in both the 1967 and 1968 Duke Invitational contests), participated in the 1966 World Championship contest, and was the United States Surfing Association points leader at the end of the 1965 season. Rusty graduated from San Diego State College with a B.A. degree in history in 1964. Miller went on to spend two semesters with the University of the Seven Seas; during this time Miller traveled by boat with 350 other students to such places as Japan, Tahiti, Australia, New Zealand, and the Middle East. Following his return to Encinitas in 1968, Rusty co-founded along with fellow champion surfer Mike Doyle the Surf Research accessory company and introduced Waxmate, which was the commercially successful surf wax. After selling his interest in the business in 1969, Rusty spent two years living on the Hawaiian island of Kauai before eventually moving to Sydney, Australia in the early 1970's. He was one of the first surfers to ride the big waves at Uluwatu beach in Indonesia. Moreover, Miller has worked as a surf instructor nearby his home in Byron Bay in Northern South Wales, Australia since the early 1970's and is the father of two children.