After a life well lived, we say a fond farewell to the "number-one-surfer in the world" Ned Eckert a.k.a. JJ Moon. Eckert was a surfer from Newport Beach, California, who became a surf world comedy phenomenon in the mid-1960s when he became "JJ Moon" - the self-proclaimed "number-one surfer in the world." JJ Moon was his nom de plume used for a horse-race handicapping column he wrote for the Newport Beach Daily Pilot. Moon's friend secretly entered him into the 1964 Makaha International contest in Hawaii, billing him as the Lake Michigan wake-surfing champion. Prior to the contest, a radio interviewer asked top California surfer and Eckert friend Mickey Muñoz who he thought would be the toughest competition at Makaha. With a straight face, Muñoz said that there were a lot of hot surfers, but the one he feared most was "the fabulous JJ Moon." A surf legend was born. In 1966, Life magazine published a two-page article asking, "Is JJ Really King of the Surf?" and noted that Moon "holds more titles than there are surfing competitions." He told them his favorite breaks were Cincinnati Pipeline and Tornado Surf in Kansas. The fad continued with JJ Moon fan clubs, JJ Moon Competition Surf Team stickers and T-shirts, and "JJ Moonshot" cocktails served at a bar near Moon's Newport Beach home. Ned Eckert was an outstanding athlete, surfer and beach volley ball player and later became a stock investor as well as the basketball coach at Chapman University and Beverly Hills High School. Eckert passed away on June 18, 2024 and is survived by his wife Bunni Eckert, daughter Krista Eckert Maloney and her husband Jim Maloney, and grandchildren Malia, Kylie and Jax. (excerpt from the Encyclopedia of Surfing) #surflegends #newportbeach #60ssurfers #makahacontest

classic character with a life well lived.

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"Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do." - Bertrand Russell


"Morality is doing what is right, regardless of what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told, regardless of what is right.


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