"Some people have no respect. That’s life. Wipe it clean. Derek’s the man. Let’s honor his legacy with love. These goons have no clue."
It’s been five years can you believe since the great Dez Ho, brother to Michael, uncle to Mason and Coco, four-time Triple Crown winner, two-time Pipe Master and Hawaii’s first-ever men’s world champ (1993) died, aged just fifty-five.
Dez was something else, real light on his toes, a man with a slick ballet style and still shredding Pipe into his sixth decade when he suffered a heart attack. Derek was hospitalised but went into a coma. Friends and family, including his older brother Michael and legendary lifeguard Darrick Doerner, were at his bedside when he died.
In an interview with Matt Warshaw as defending world champ in 1994,
“We just do these boring little neutral events. It’s senseless for us to be out in these tiny waves hopping and jumping around. We should be carving, slamming, disappearing into huge barrels. It ought to be everyone looking forward to these things, surfers, sponsors, fans. Everybody should be jumping out of their skin, you know?”
A mural on the trail to Pipe was erected for Hawaii’s first men’s world surf champ. It featured a pretty backlit Pipe tube and the words In Loving Memory of Derek Ho King of Pipeline. A few days ago, the mural was hit with streaks of graffiti.
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“No more rip shit turning to a cemetery.”
“The Blue Monster. The Blue Monster.”
Under the word MEMORY, “Let’s focus on now not yesterday.”
And, ironically,
“Surf or die.”
Plenty of calls for the culprits to get lickins, as they say, but as one commentor pointed out.
“Knowing Derek Ho, he wouldn’t want anyone to get lickins while he watches from heaven. Some people have no respect. That’s life. Wipe it clean. Derek’s the man. Let’s honor his legacy with love. These goons have no clue. But the boys do and we are above this behavior.”
The graffiti has since been cleaned by Isabella Jones, daughter of the late Mikala Jones.
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Had a good life riding the curl with bumps and chatter along the way. His legacy is solid.
Ice has ruined/ ended the lives of so many in Hawaii
Someone getting choke slaps!
heart attack due to meth?
You’d would think the houses beside the path would have multiple cameras with all the angles recorded at all times so it’d be pretty easy to work out when it was done, and who did it…
(maybe its time the photo is replaced with something like a plaque or sculpture etc)
That picture looks like something you would find outside a San Diego liquor store. This is a good opportunity to do better.
No disrespect to Derek but you will find that Hawaii’s first world champion was Fred Hemmings in 1968.
Fuckin cocks. Psych counter -500
there’s no accounting for idiots. Morons.
Just like the burnout fuckwits … fines, jail, slaps however justice is served. All good with me.