Many rumors are floating around, none substantiated.
Sunny Garcia is an indelible figure of our surf world.
The powerful Hawaiian, strong and handsome, ruled the 90s and 00s with a singular style and unparalleled elan.
Matt Warshaw, surfing’s historian, wrote an introduction that can not be topped.
Surly Hawaiian power surfer from Waianae, Oahu; 2000 world champion and six-time winner of the Triple Crown; described by surf journalist Derek Hynd as ‘a modern-day Cassius Clay…a slick, black nightmare come to whup some ass.’
In the last few moments, iconic surfers from Derek Ho to Raimana van Bastolear have flooded Instagram with messages of support and hope for Sunny, who is forty nine.
Derek writing, “Brother! Shared many good times!hang in there son!its not your time!only god knows!love you !we never get to say that enough until they’re gone!but you haven’t left yet!I will talk to you soon!our prayers are with you!!!the Ho family!”
Raimana adding, “Brother @sunnygarcia !! Come on!!! Stay with us!! Not your time!!! Love uuuu.”
Many rumors are floating around, none substantiated, including his hospitalisation after being found unconscious at home.
Sunny opened up about his fight with depression recently.
More as the story develops.
biggest cunt to come outta Hawaii. What happened to Mana? and Aloha?
One has to ask; could he have possibly suffered head/brain injuries in the water? Concussions, etc? Was he, did he use/abuse alcohol/drugs? What was his lifestyle post career? Diet, etc? Many things contribute/exacerbate mental health issues. All the Best, Brother…
maybe its because i’m around the same age and have lost all ambition, but feel like the ONLY things that matter in life are 1. mental/physical health and 2.good relationships with your Family.
friends are great, other things are fun, but without 1 and 2, nothing else matters. i relate to anyone like Sunny, like Ron (World Peace) Artest who is brave enough to be honest about struggling with mental health issues; hoping this isn’t the last chapter in his story
He wasn’t even the first football player to do that- Dave Duerson did the same thing a few years ago. Man that’s rough…
Hope he’s OK. We all go through some (very) dark times. I often wonder if the hate that is spread so easily via the internet and forums like this add to the pain. If you are hurting and are reading this remember that we are only blessed with one life. Cheers and hope
He’s in coma after trying to commit suicide by hanging. Not good. What can be done about depression? Is there a root cause in the brain we can turn off or change, medically speaking?
Going through the same thing(47), thankfully my wife is a saint and helps me stay happy.
“- beeeautiful bottom turn!”
m. potter, ’89 world champ…
his game so tight, right there with andy, curren few of the regulars i got fond of watching surf, id ride goofy if a could… hes good bloke, gonna rise up…
Well that’s fucked!…
I’m not convinced it was entirely CTE with Junior. A close friend of his, Mike Whitmarsh, also committed suicide around the same time and my feeling is that HGH or its derivatives played a role.
I hope he stays true to the interview he gave years ago. When I’m old and fat I’ll ride a longboard at Makaha and get any wave I want.
Good luck to the guy.
hes gonna have that luck and be out of this one… 💙
“Fuck depression” is a useless platitude. Like “thoughts and prayers”… you know what you can actually do? Reach out to someone in your life who you know is lonely or struggling.
He had lots of friends
They can’t help
They need doctors
I saw Junior once or rwice a week stroking around on his sup, up and down the lineups in O’side.
We’d all greet him..rag him, and he would rag us right back..
Little did we know his heartache and despair.
Be aware of your friends or even random guys in the lineup that we have no idea what they’re dealing with
Hope he pulls through. He’s been pretty open about his battle with the Black Dog, he’s inspired others struggling with the same battle simply by being open and honest about his own battle. He’s a fucking good human being.
Yes he is. Hoping it stays “is”.
Depression is a cunt of thing.. hearing this horrible shit today really brought back memories of mates that have gone out way too early by their own hand. Talk to your family, hug your kids, go for a paddle and for fucks sake, believe it gets better. From experience, it does.
My heart goes out to Sunny, his family, and mates.
hes gonna be fine…💙
Inertia put out an article saying it was a failled suicide attempt and he is now on life support in a Portland hospital. Apparently breathing on his own. Why the fuck is Toledo writing RIP!!??
well internet is a bitch, fakenews can do much more damage to people, countries… got their intention in a nice place and out of sorrow & admiration, they good family guys…
What’s with tha RIP
Thats what I was getting at. its Weird! Why ya Wanna score first points on something like this…?
maybe because you sorrow and admire, yes kinda jumpy but…
Wow, I had no idea he was only 49.
Depression is nasty beast ain’t it?
The way Sunny gouged a wave face through an entire turn, it visually appeared to slow the wave’s momentum. As if the wave paused to enjoy Sunny’s turn too.
Poor taste Bols…
As usual.