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Bernard "Midget" Farrelly AM (13 September 1944 – 6 August 2016) was the first world surfing champion.
Bernard 'Midget' Farrelly | |
|---|---|
| Born | Bernard Farrelly 13 September 1944 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | 6 August 2016 (aged 71) |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Other names | Midget |
| Occupation(s) | Surfer, designer, shaper, board maker |
| Known for | First world surfing champion. Farrelly Surfboards |
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) |
| Spouse | Beverlie |
| Children | 3 - Priscilla, Johanna and Lucy. |
Farrelly, was the first Australian to win a major surfing title, the 1962 Makaha International Surfing Championships, the unofficial world surfing championship of the day.[1] In 1964 he won the inaugural World Surfing Championship at Manly Beach in Sydney.[2][3][4]
Farrelly was also the first president, in 1961, of Australia's oldest surfboard riders club, Dee Why Surfing Fraternity, which still operates under the same name today.[5] He presented a ten-part television series about surfing in Australia, The Midget Farrelly Surf Show, for the ABC in 1967.[6]
Farrelly was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985 and into the Surfing Walk of Fame at California's Huntington Beach in 2007.[7] Farrelly died on 6 August 2016, aged 71, from stomach cancer and liver failure.[3][8][9]
Farrelly was posthumously inducted as a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours.[10]
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