The Rubberman Kicks Out
Larry Bertlemann showed generations of surfers and skaters “anything is possible.”
Surfing lost one of its greats today—Hawaiian Larry Bertlemann, perhaps the most influential, progressive surfer of the shortboard revolution 1970s, whose stylish, low, powerful, and timelessly radical approach not only helped pushed surfing into its modern, high performance era, but inspired the first generation of skateboarders like Dogtown’s Jay Adams and Tony Alva to expand the limits of what was thought possible on a skateboard.
“Skateboarding grew from the roots of GIANTS. We owe you everything.” Thrasher Magazine posted in tribute to LB.
“Larry Bertlemann has graduated to the party in the sky,” wrote surfing’s preeminent style scholar, Joel Tudor. “Few people in surf can say they changed the trajectory of progression…Larry flipped the world on its head with his “anything is possible” mantra & style…also gave birth to skateboardings technical advancements in wall riding transitions! Legend isn’t even the correct term to explain his role in both activities! Rest easy sir and tell all the crew upstairs aloha!”
Bertlemann was born in Hilo, on the northeastern, windward side of the Big Island, but moved to Oahu at 11, where he learned to surf along Waikiki. Before long he was climbing the ranks at the South Shore’s premiere spots, like Ala Moana, enjoying the tutelage, as well as the handshapes of Ben Aipa, who along with Dick Brewer laid the blueprint for today’s high performance designs, from rockers and rails to outlines and fins, and Larry was the perfect test pilot.
“A teenaged Larry B.S.-ed his way into surfing’s epicenter in 1970 by telling Colonel Al Benson and wife Blanche that he lived in a box on the jetty at Ala Moana,” wrote Jason Borte for Bertlemann’s inclusion into Surfer’s 50 Greatest Surfers of All Time. “They fell for his act and provided him a ready-made North Shore palace complete with an instant, loving family and access to the best waves and best surfers on the planet. In the Benson household, Bertlemann inherited not only a handful of competitive brothers and sisters but also a photographer/mentor dad in the Colonel and a revolving trail of visiting pros as roommates.”
“After a few years with the Bensons, coupled with shaping and coaching from progressive-minded Ben Aipa, Larry was primed to turn surfing on its head. Of course, he didn’t see it in those terms. Like any 18-year-old, he just wanted to go off. “It was so easy to go straight, and I didn’t like that,” he recalls. “I seen guys surfing, but I didn’t wanna be like one of them. Gerry was just the Adolph-Straight-Off guy, which anybody can do. I wanted to make Figure 8’s and he was making capital L’s…I was the anti-Gerry.”
Bertlemann garnered the nickname “Rubberman” for his loose, limber style, and crouched, low center of gravity, bent-knee approach. His fronthand carve became the most famous maneuver in surfing and skateboarding for a time, known formally as a “Bert,” and emulated by thousands of skateboarders the world over after seeing him on the big screen in some of the period’s biggest films—”Sea Of Joy,” “Super Session,” and others.
Footage from the early and mid 1970s also finds Bertlemann doing some of the first real attempts at above-the-lip surfing, a decade before Christian Fletcher and the 80’s aerial revolution. His rock star good looks and flamboyant style on land and in the water made him one of the most marketable and photographed surfers of his generation, the muse of some of the greats like Art Brewer, Kirk Aider, Jeff Divine.
While not known as a contest surfer, he took fourth at the 1972 World Surfing Championships, and placed third at the Pipe Masters the same year, then won the U.S. Surfing Championships in 1973, and captured the prestigious Duke Kahanamoku Surfing Championship in 1974 at Sunset Beach (The Duke served as the de facto World Title from 1965 until the mid-1970s and the launch of the ASP World Tour).
“You made dreams happen for a lot of us kids,” posted Kelly Slater. “Never forget the influence and how cool you were to me as a kid getting your autograph.”
“There’s so much I want say about this Legend,” wrote Johnny-Boy Gomes. “Larry ( Rubberman ) Bertlemann who paved the way, not only for me since I was a kid but millions of other around the world and was a huge Inspiration to my surfing and also, we have the same birthday, Aug. 7 and I was stoked to have celebrated our birthdays a few times together. Larry is a big part of surfing history and he left his mark in the surfing and skateboard world forever and LB was ahead of his time. Aloha and Mahalo for Paving the way for us Hawaiians and many more around the world. Until we meet again, I love you Champ.”
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