"The world is an old-fashioned place to me. Everything I see can be improved."
One of surfing’s great gifts to the world, the inventor Tom Morey, has died a couple of months after his eighty-sixth birthday.
Ol Tom wasn’t in the best shape. He was blind and broke, pretty much, despite the outrageous success of the boogie board, which celebrated its fiftieth anniversary this July.
A fundraiser was created a few years ago to help him and his wife Marchia get through the tough times brought on by the usual catastrophic medical bills and so forth; a hundred gees giving a little comfort in his final years on earth.
Morey, whose $1500 Tom Morey Invitational was the first surfing event to throw its competitors a little cash, invented the 4’6”, 23” wide foam boog in 1971; it was more than a toy for kids to hold onto in shorebreaks, he explained, this was a profound shift in waveriding.
“For anybody to become a graduate of this planet,” Morey who would sell out of his Boogie biz four years later thereby missing the rivers of gold said, “it is essential that they learn to enjoy this activity.”
That same year, Morey wrote a piece in Surfer magazine called Space Boards, a widely futuristic take on what surfing is and what surfboards could be.
“I am a spaceman. I am the spirits of Einstein, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and Bob Simmons, taken possession, temporarily, of the innocent body known here on earth as Tom Morey,” he wrote. “I (we, really) am looking at your surfboards of today and thinking they are junk.”
In 1999, Morey changed his name to Y explaining in a press release that it’s “easy to say and hear” and “the symmetric look of ‘Y’ is quite pleasing.”
When I asked Pipe shredder and nine-time bodyboard world champ Mike Stewart if he’d heard Tom had died he wrote,
“Took his last breath today and now paddling into perfection.”
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Right when I was 1 year into surfing and getting a good swing at things on a shorty I broke my arm helping my mom pack up her classroom on my first day of summer. I had a plaster cast for a month up to my bicep. When I got switched over to a fiber glass cast I was on the boog every day there were waves. When they took my cast off the stench was horrendous. Tom saved my summer. Still love to have boog jousts and am proud owner of a bully board, which is a two haole or 1 samoan board, a guaranteed giggle machine. The 2 pack 661 mini boogs from Costco was the best $10 board ever made, many a barrel on that board and no baggage fees. Thanks Tom!
took me closest ive ever get… #rip
Rest In Peace good sir
We’re all part of the tribe
Rip Tom. Thanks for the Morey boogie… the perfect gateway drug for groms.
Farewell Tom and have fun surfing the universe
RIP Tom…..was great to meet ya’s 3 months ago at your big CBad Party. Tho we didn’t allow your Boog in the 70-80’s….the technology advanced….they became a damn good ride for us older dudes of late.
Tom was not blind and broke. He was vision impaired and could see well enough to get around and play the drums. He also had enough money to live a life of daily comfort and joy with the love of his life. A true friend to all who was never too busy to engage in conversation with a stranger. The world is a better place thanks to Tom Morey, the inventor of the Boogie Board.
His early Morey Boogie model BE 132 was my first surf craft I used my own monies to purchase at Pete Smith Surf Shop. BE stood for Bahai Era after his religious faith. Handful of North Shore surfer in late sixties embraced that religion Mark Heoppner, Steve Tiau, Tom Morey, and the guy whom has first cover of SURFER at Pipe. I can’t recall his name..
I was on a first name basis with Tom & Marchia. Two of the nicest people on the planet. Most surfers have no idea how much he influenced the sport. Tom Morey was a certified genius.
I will miss our talks together. RIP Amigo.
Tom was absolutely a spaceman. In my last conversation with him he pointed to his hat that just had the word “surf” embroidered small on the front and said,”I wear this because this is the one thing I think people need to see and go do. I dont need to represent brands, people just need to take some time out of their life regularly to get in the water and slide across some waves, anyway they can. Its one of the most important things you can do on this planet.”
RIP Tom.
Enjoy the next ride, Y. Will sponge one in your honor today.
Reality is like Ever Clear. It’s better just to mix it and a bunch of juice/fruit in a bath tub and call it hunch punch. Drink ’til you throw up on the chic you’re having sex with and pass out on a boogie board on the floor(The 80’s were the best)
Cunt! Get to oz and party like it 1999!…
Done it.
Another proper surf legend bites the dust.
R.I.P. Spaceman
Stopped and chatted with the landscaper on my postie round to chat about about boogie boards as he has many stickers on his work van.
( I bought a Mark 4 in 89 in Waikiki)
Found out he is a collector.
Told me something about how the EPA stopped a certain chemical in that was in the boards, and it was the chemical that kept the boards strong?
Said the boards now are shit.
The Dow cores. Not the strength, but the balance between flex and stiffness that makes a good Boog. Dow foam cores had a certain feel. Bit like the Clark foam blanks in surfing.
Dow is still 100% available. Its every Polyethlyene wavecore on the market. We lost true Arcel cores because they required butane to create the foam bubbles in the core. Something about a truckload of arcel foam literally exploding combined with minimal demand. Shit was good though!
The original soft top!….RIP legend.
Blind and Broke? Poor choice of words 😬 made the article distasteful to continue to read.
Life of a alcoholic…dont see me..hear me and feel me….fucking who does emojis ..smell me!
Kicking into perfection.
Did you really talk to Mike?
Damn your whoopy lies.
A text, but yeah.
I wonder who’s number you don’t have.
I’ve had mine for 25 years now,
time keeps on slippin
Into the future
I still have a landline that has the number: 976-7873(SURF) in the memory. Best 55¢ you could ever spend!
Haven’t had a land-line for 25 years.
My cell phone ends in the same four digits!
Anybody who compares them self to Albert is a jerk! but I do appreciate the Bob Simmons reference!
https://infoamed.com/2020/0…
Just as important as riding big boards while learning is to ride a lid, so many grown men can’t navigate an interesting tube.
We had a summer home near Tom. 1975ish.
He liked my mom, always wanted me to belly his plastic. Buran was owning the buccaneer at that time and we were the only ones out, no way I’m riding that foam on my belly.
Gave me his “kit” as a gift…. in those days, you had to assemble your boogie. Not kidding. Glue your own DIY.
Odd fellow. Never glued it whole and my sisters used the pieces for pillows when sunbathing. So technically, his invention did work.
Ya back Hippy! Good to see. Some people were asking bout ya. Worried, they were.
I could feel his vibe
Lurking.
I just want to know what you did with my boy Bexy….. sense foul play.
Still optimistic but very dissapointed in certain slabs of society.
Fascists in charge now.
Fuk em.
My life’s ship was taking water. Deaths abound as Covid ripped the fam. Business destroyed for a year, had to fix the hull to continue to sail.
Kind of have it sorted now. May never be sure again, but one paddle at a time.