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When Phil Becker passed away late last week, the surfing world lost a legend. A quiet, hardworking legend who simply did what he loved to do: shape great surfboards.
Becker, who had an enormous influence on the South Bay surf scene — and by extension, the global surf scene — wasn’t a man who wanted the spotlight. He made surfboards that were easy to ride. Best known for his longboards and fun shapes, Becker’s boards were mostly made for the singular purpose of having a good time. It’s been said that Phil Becker shaped more surfboards than anyone else in the world, and it may well be true. “I’m not in the business to get anyone to ride a certain type of board,” he told the LA Times in 1993. “I’m in the business to keep people happy riding surfboards.”
Becker, who was born in 1940 and grew up surfing Bluff Cove in Palos Verdes in the late fifties and sixties, began his shaping career much the way most shapers do. He started making surfboards in his garage and in his teenage years, learned the tricks of the trade from Dale Velzy and Hap Jacobs. Within a few years, he landed a job at Rick Surfboards in Hermosa Beach, and in 1958 he became head shaper, a position he would hold until 1979. There, he learned the real intricacies of board building and began honing his skills into the sharpened blade they would become.
He quickly became a sought-after surfboard craftsman, and in 1980, he along with his business partners Steve Mangiagli and Dave Hollander, bought out the Rick Surfboard factory, expanded the operation, and opened the first Becker Surfboards shop on Pier Avenue in Hermosa Beach. Mangiagli was a glasser and Hollander was a pinstriper. It was almost immediately a success, but even though the business was taking off, Becker just kept on shaping surfboards. That, after all, was what he loved to do. According to the LA Times, by the early 1990s, sales for Becker Surfboards were in the $5 million range. None of that changed Becker, though. “Becker never had a surf team,” wrote Matt Warshaw for Encyclopedia of Surfing, “never wore a watch, didn’t like to be photographed, and rarely gave interviews.”
In 2006, Becker packed his things and moved to Hawaii, where he slowed down his shaping. Four years later, in 2010, Becker Surf and Sport, which had stores in Malibu, Encinitas, and Mission Viejo, was purchased by Billabong.
Phil Becker is a person who lived his life exactly the way he wanted to. He didn’t go to college, didn’t wear a suit to an office every day, didn’t climb a corporate ladder. Instead, he simply did what he wanted to do and found a way to make a living from it. Phil Becker’s passing will leave a void in surfing, but we’re all better off having shared the planet with him. Our sincerest condolences go out to the friends, family, and anyone affected by Becker’s death. He will be missed.
