Up until 2013, you probably hadn’t heard of Cam Richards. Although he’d been ripping for years, it wasn’t until a hashtag caught fire that he really became part of surfing’s collective consciousness.
Hailing from South Carolina, Richards entered into the Hurley Pro video trials, a contest that pitted sixteen contenders against each other in head-to-head heats–only instead of real life heats, they were video clips. The public did the judging, and Cam Richards blew up. #Ivotedforcamdidyou went nuts on the internet. Strangely, both Jamie Foxx and Jaden Smith jumped on the bandwagon, and Richards’ online votes skyrocketed, along with his name. He eventually lost to Dane Reynolds, but for a while there, a virtually unknown kid from Carolina almost beat one of the most well-known surfers one planet.
Since then, of course, the name Cam Richards hasn’t been the toast of the town in the same way it was three years ago–but that doesn’t mean his surfing has diminished. In fact, it’s only gotten better. Need proof? Look no further than the video above.
