OCEAN CITY- Local surfing legend and pioneer Skill Johnson last week was announced as one of 11 new inductees into the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame and join the austere group in January.
Johnson, a Stephen Decatur graduate, began surfing in Ocean City in 1963 along with his brothers Al and Carl and founded the original Ocean City Surf Club the same year. Johnson and his brothers helped introduce surfing in Ocean City and on the east coast at a time when it was largely a California and west coast craze.
Johnson was nominated for the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame this summer and the class of 2018 was announced last Thursday at the September Surf Expo in Florida. He will be inducted in the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame in January. Johnson is one of 11 new inductees from a field of 50 nominations.
Johnson was a standout Eastern Surfing Association (ESA) competitor throughout the mid-Atlantic region in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1967, he reached the semifinals in the Atlantic States championships. In 1968 and 1970, Johnson was the men’s champ at the Middle Atlantic Surfing Championship and master’s champion in the ESA championships in 1973.
Johnson moved to Hawaii in 1974 and quickly became involved in the surfing scene there. Over the last few decades, Johnson has taught surfing, directed and produced surf contests and emceed many of the major surfing events in Hawaii. He currently lives in Florida and returns a few times a year to his native Ocean City where family members still live.
