LABOR OF LOVE
Nearing Its
25th Anniversary, The NKF Pro-Am Surf Festival Soldiers On
By Nick McGregor
Rich and Phil Salick didn’t have to devote themselves
to a long-running Cocoa Beach, FL, tradition. When the NKF Pro-Am Surf Festival
started in 1985, the twin brothers had already done so much. Rich was diagnosed
with a major kidney disease in 1973, cutting short a professional surfing career
that started with the Dewey Weber team in the ‘60s and peaked with the United
States and World Surfing Teams in 1973. Within months, Rich could barely walk one
block from his home to the shores of Cocoa Beach — much less travel the
world in search of waves as he’d done during the previous decade.
After watching Rich endure brutal
three-times-a-week dialysis treatments, Phil offered to donate a kidney to his
brother. Rich’s new lease on life came in 1977 at the University of Florida’s
Shands Teaching Hospital, and against the advice of several doctors, he
returned to surfing shortly thereafter, using a specially designed padding
system to protect his transplanted kidney. Within years, Rich was back on the
competitive circuit winning contests; he was recognized by Contemporary Dialysis Magazine as the first transplant-recipient athlete
to ever return to his sport at the professional level; he received the
prestigious Nancy Katin Award; and his first post-transplant victory trophy
still stands in the dialysis center at UF.
So Phil and Rich decided to share a little of their
good fortune with other kidney patients, initiating the Florida Team
Invitational in the late ‘70s between Salick Surfboards and the vaunted Ocean
Avenue crew. That first event raised $125, which the Salick brothers collected
in a brown paper bag and promptly dispersed to patients in need at the local
dialysis center. That caught the attention of Dr. C. Craig Tisher, Chief of
Nephrology at UF and Region II Vice President of the National Kidney Foundation
at the time. He urged the Salicks to expand their surfing contest, the
inaugural 1985 NKF Pro-Am Surf Festival raised over $65,000, and the rest, as
they say, is history...
Fast forward 24 years, and Phil and Rich Salick, now
59 years old, are still hard at work. They spend the bulk of their year gearing
up for the NKF Pro-Am Surfing Festival, held each Labor Day weekend in Cocoa
Beach, and are proud to announce that the event has raised over $5 million for
patient programs provided by the NKF of Florida. Although the economy has hit
the event’s 2009 financial goals hard, local surf shop staple Cocoa Beach Surf
Company remains the top sponsor, and the Salicks even pitched in this year to
help competitors who couldn’t otherwise afford the entrance fee. If you think
about it, that kind of self-sacrifice lines up perfectly with the spirit of
service that the NKF Pro-Am Surf Festival was founded on 24 years ago.
THE OLD IN-OUT
The 2009 WRV Outer Banks Pro Presented By Hurley Is Moving Ahead Like Clockwork
Along The Graveyard Of The Atlantic... Let's Hope Hurricane Season Doesn’t Dish
Out A Bit Of The Old Ultraviolence
BILL OF SALE Surf Expo Comes To Town Early With Lower-Than-Usual
Attendance Rumors And Category 4 Hurricane Bill Zooming In. Will You Blow Town To
Bro Down Or Sit Tight And Get Right?
