Episode 39 - Brett Simpson: Two-Time US Open Champ & Surf City Mentor

Mel and Don welcome Huntington Beach surfing legend Brett Simpson—the hometown kid who put his name on the map by winning the US Open of Surfing in 2009, then doing it again in 2010 to prove it was no fluke, beating Kelly Slater in the semifinals along the way. Brett looks back on those back-to-back titles at twenty-three, the rush of competing in front of a packed Surf City crowd, and how fast it all went by. What's wild is that he didn't even touch a surfboard until he was eleven or twelve, growing up in West Garden Grove as the son of an NFL draft pick. It was the sheer difficulty of surfing—and the individuality of paddling out alone, never knowing what the ocean would send—that hooked a kid who had spent his childhood in travel baseball and flag football.

He traces the whole arc: a mom who loved the beach and drove him to Seal Beach and Surfside, surfing the pier until dark with friends, and finding his stride at Huntington Beach High under coach Andy Verdone, whose dry wit and belief put the right people in Brett's corner. After graduating in 2003 he went straight onto the tour, "got lost for three years" chasing the qualifying series through Brazil, France, Portugal, and Australia, signed with O'Neill and then Hurley in 2006, and broke through in 2009 to spend six years on the Championship Tour. Today he has come full circle as Hurley's team manager, steering a roster of rising stars and tour standouts like world No. 1 Gabriela Bryan, after coaching USA's junior and Olympic surfing talent. He is also head coach of the Huntington Beach Board Riders Club and, by his own admission, loses more sleep over coaching Friday Night Live flag football than he ever did over a heat.

Brett opens up about his dad, the competitive force who would call him anywhere in the world to pull him out of the depths, and the only thing he ever really wanted: to make his parents proud. He and his wife Danielle, high school sweethearts, are now raising two kids of their own—a twelve-year-old daughter and son Kobe, a nine-year-old already ripping—and Brett is learning the hard art of leading without hovering, letting his kids lose so they can learn. He shares hard-won wisdom on the mental side of the sport, why he barely touches heavy weights ("we're surfers—you want to be flexible"), and how surfing remains his medicine even as he rehabs two bad shoulders. Through it all runs one mission: lifting the next generation up, whether it is a few words before a heat or paddling out right alongside them. A must-watch episode.