its a sad day for the surfing world, Buttons Kaluhiokalani lost his battle with cancer yesterday. he was a true standout back in the day. Like so many others,i used to watch his movies and try to copy his moves to no avail.Glad he was able to come back from addiction and have some beautiful years of surfing and family life before he passed
I got to meet him many years ago at Surf Expo, he was repping for Da Hui. He was full of aloha and not at all pissed he was in Orlando instead of his beloved North Shore during the peak of winter season. He was very gracious and gave me a Da Hui leather key chain which I treasured, but finally wore it out. A true legend. He will be missed.
Yeah. It was sad to see him all jammed up a few years ago. I couldn't believe when I saw him on Dog the Bounty Hunter. Living in a car and strung out on dope... But it is very inspirational to see that he was able clean up and get his life together. I'm glad he was able to do that before he died. He had the easiest excuse possible to turn back to the dope (cancer) and he stayed clean.
afaic, Buttons was the father of modern surfing. He was sliding 360s, doing reverts and laybacks on shortboards before anyone else. The original master of control. Sad to see him busted on dog the bounty hunter for smoking meth...definitely detrimental when dealing with cancer. RIP
I remember Buttons from an old surf contest at sunset along with Tom Carrol, Wes Lane, Shaun Tompson. He had so much fun energy and just raised the vibrations for everyone in and out of the water. You will be missed and loved always
Meet him last year at the belmar pro. He was a pretty awesome guy to talk to. So unfortunate. Rip buttons
Like some of the other posters mentioned, he was the first to "hotdog". He was the first to do or pave the way for what we do today. One of the pioneers of surfing....
one of the best to watch in the 70's flicks but like many he fell hard.unlike most he came back.sad to see him get so sick and die so soon after reclaiming it.life is short, like a mist.
Ran into him at Greenlight in Manasquan last summer. Was riding a really wild board with these crazy deep channels and hard corner wings. Totally out of the box guy... on so many levels.
that same morning Hurricane Iwa hit the Islands, i was on my way to work. as i was listening to the radio, it was announced that if you were working for the City and County, stay home. since i was already in town, i went straight to one of my fave spot; Alamo Bowls. as i got to the parking lot i noticed there were four guys who had their boards watching the chaos out there, so i said, why not... took my board out and stood out there with the rest of um. we prolly stood there for a good half an hour, watching and coursing in our mind what would be the best way to get out, but deep inside, waiting for that one fool to break the ice and just start paddling out. i asked the braddah on the left who looked as if deep in trance. it was Buttons. "Brah, so what? you going?" he stared at the ocean for another minute, then turned to me: "Brah, f@ck dat! you crazy or wot?" everybody within earshot turned around and went back to their respected car. e ho'omaha me ka maluhia, Braddah Buttons..
One of the greatest surfers of all time, such style and grace, dude had it wired and went all out, such a privilege to have seen him surf, RIP Buttons, you made your mark on the world, and you won't be forgotten... [video=youtube;2X0ybabB6e8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X0ybabB6e8[/video]
CNJESA will be holding a memorial paddle out for Montgomery "Buttons" Kaluhiokalani, Surfing Legend, at 17th Street in Belmar, NJ in front of Eastern Lines Surf Shop, this morning, Sunday, Nov 10th, at 10am. See you there, Ryan
REAL NICE Memorial Paddle Out for Buttons yesterday !!! Thanks to CNJESA and everyone who helped make it happen. Thanks to Buttons who sent a few nice waves out of no where right when everyone started to paddle in on a relatively nothing day. Rest in Peace bro.
