Courtney Conlogue, Jay Larson inducted into Surfers’ Hall of Fame
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Courtney Conlogue and Jay Larson were inducted into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame on Friday morning, just steps from the sand where they made an impact in Huntington Beach.
Conlogue spent 13 years on the world tour and was a two-time U.S. Open of Surfing champion, in 2009 and 2018.
These days, she works as a lifeguard in Huntington Beach and has served as coach of the USA Surfing Para Surf Team, continuing to give back to the beach she loved as a teenager growing up in Santa Ana and attending Sage Hill School.
Conlogue said having her parents, Richard and Tracey, there to speak to the crowd was maybe the most meaningful thing of all.
“That just made my day and my month and year,” Conlogue, now 33, said with a smile. “Thank you, Huntington, so much. I have so much gratitude for this city.”
Conlogue was No. 2 in the world rankings in 2015 and 2016.
Huntington Beach native Brett Simpson, the event emcee and a two-time U.S. Open champion himself, said he remembered Conlogue bursting onto the scene and making the USA Junior Surf Team at age 11.
“This girl is fearsome, she’s motivated,” Simpson said. “I got to travel the tour with her, and she literally will just bang down a door. I mean, at 16 years old she wins the U.S. Open. That was a pretty good year.”
Simpson also won the U.S. Open that year, in 2009, the first of his back-to-back titles.
Larson, meanwhile, came up through the ranks in Surf City, serving as surf team captain at Huntington Beach High in 1993, the same year he turned pro before embarking on a nearly decade-long career.
“They really set the bar here for high school surfing,” Simpson said. “I look over there at Jeff Deffenbaugh, and that era, I know for someone like myself that was very influential … The style, the flow, the power, those are the things that just resonate in our brains.”
A longtime sales representative for lifestyle brand RVCA, Larson, whose nickname is “L8night,” co-founded the L8nightwithChoccy podcast in 2019, creating a platform for surfers and more to express themselves.
Andy Verdone, who retired as Huntington Beach High surf coach earlier this year, said Larson was an incredible wave rider.
“The East Coast had [Kelly] Slater, and we had Larson,” Verdone said. “I’m telling you, there was no difference. This kid could do anything on a wave.”
Larson thanked his family, including his wife and three children, among others.
“For years, I used to say that surfing saved my life,” Larson said. “In many ways, it absolutely did. Surfing gave me opportunities very few people ever experience ... Was it talent, was it luck, was it timing or was it just sacrifice, putting in thousands of hours chasing a dream? The truth is, it was probably all of that.”
He also credited his Christian faith, adding that the greatest legacy a person can leave is how they love their families, serve their friends and strengthen their communities.
The Surfers’ Hall of Fame is maintained by Huntington Surf & Sport owners, the Pai family.
