Happy Birthday Buttons
There are few surfers who’s style, stoke, and positivity transcend time. There’s no doubt that Buttons is one of the few that truly left his mark on surfing. Notoriously wreckless, both in and out of the water, his creative and aggressive surfing style combined hard cutbacks with spontaneous goofy foot maneuvers. His positivity knew no bounds, and in every clip you can find, Buttons shoots out of the barrell with a smile on his face. He truly embodied the idea that surfing should first and foremost be fun.
Buttons was also radically transparent about the struggles in his life. With his sudden fame, he found himself dropped into the North Shore party scene where he got addicted to drugs. Despite the health and financial struggles that come from that kind of drug addiction, Buttons never really stopped surfing. Eventually kicking the habit, he got sober and started a family. Later in his life you could always still find Buttons on the beach or in the water. He dedicated much of his time to starting a surf school, where the next generation of surfers could learn the basics from one of the sports’ legends.
