Bobby Owens

Surfer Bobby Owens was born in 1957 in Italy. The son of a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, Owens moved with his family to the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii in 1966. Bobby began surfing at Oahu and turned pro in 1976. Bobby placed second in the 1977 Duke Kahanamoku Invitational contest at Sunset Beach in Hawaii and subsequently won both the Pro Class Trials at Sunset Beach and the Quicksilver Bells Beach Trials in Australia in 1980. One of the most well respected surfers at Sunset Beach in the late 1970's and early 1980's, Owens made the world tour year-end top 16 four times altogether: He placed at twelve in 1977, seventh in 1978, twelfth again in 1981, and tenth in 1982.