PETE SMITH, 1939-2026: Surfing icon ‘helped put Virginia Beach on the map’
By Butch Maier
Pete Smith, the godfather of Virginia Beach surfing who helped bring the East Coast Surfing Championships to the city and co-owned the first surf shop there, died March 10. He was 86.
In the early 1960s, as surfing was growing rapidly in Virginia Beach, Smith and Bob Holland opened Smith & Holland Surf Shop, which eventual East Coast Surfing Hall of Famer Wes Laine visited on the Oceanfront almost daily as a youngster.
“Pete was a guy that always had an amazing personality, but more importantly, he had a connection with everyone he came across,” Laine said. “Everyone he came across was a friend. He always had time to talk to everybody—no matter how old or how young you were, or if you were a good surfer or a beginner. Pete is one of those few individuals that would take all the time in the day to share information, share his knowledge. He had this incredible energy level of positivity and just tended to bring everyone else up around him because he was very positive. And he loved what he did. He loved surfing, and he loved surfboards, and he enjoyed relating to people and sharing what he knew.”
Smith wrote a letter to Surfer Magazine about the Virginia Beach surf scene that led to California surfboard maker Hobie Alter tracking down Smith and an exclusive deal for Smith & Holland to sell Alter’s boards.
After the first East Coast surf contest was held in New York, Smith and his cohorts moved the event to Virginia Beach. The East Coast Surfing Championships (ECSC) is the longest-running surfing competition on the East Coast.
“He had a huge impact in a number of ways,” Laine said. “He had relationships with all of the world’s best board builders and surfboard riders, and that helped him in his business, but more importantly, it helped put Virginia Beach on the map.”
D. Nachnani, Coastal Edge surf shop founder and president, knew Smith for more than three decades.
“I don’t think there would be a Coastal Edge without Pete Smith,” said Nachnani, whose company is celebrating its 36th year in business. “I definitely attribute what Coastal Edge is today to our forefathers of surf shops, and Pete Smith had the first surf shop….There are so many things in our community that happened because of Pete Smith. He really curated a lifestyle that we enjoy to this very day and we hope to carry on.”
When Holland left the business, Smith & Holland’s shop was renamed Pete Smith’s Surf Shop.
“A wonderful human being,” Nachnani said of Smith. “He was truly a breath of fresh air. He was one exuberant smile of energy. Just a ball of energy—positive energy.”
Smith was inducted into the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame in 1996.
“In later years, it was always great having Pete Smith on the microphone at ECSC,” Laine said. “We always appreciated his time and his energy in his announcing. And I always looked forward to it because he had that special gift of being able to talk to people in a way that captured their attention. He just was a great personality in the sport of surfing and a great representative of Virginia Beach.”
Dana Sizemore, executive director of the Virginia Beach Surf & Rescue Museum, met Smith five years ago.
“Every time he came [to the museum], he just made everybody feel special,” Sizemore said. “He knew no strangers—never let anybody feel like a stranger.…He had an amazing memory. I could show him pictures of things, and he could tell me right away who they were. Probably, a lot of the times, the year. And usually followed by a fun story. He’s just somebody you really enjoyed hanging out with.”
There will be a paddle-out memorial for Smith at the ECSC in August.
“He was so gracious,” Sizemore said. “Whether you got him a cup of water while he was sitting there signing pictures when people would come in, or anything. Just a really kind soul.” Though an icon, Smith “was just such a humble person,” Sizemore said. “He never really acted like that when you hung out with him or met him. He just had a really great demeanor. He’s more revered than I think he’d ever realize….He was instrumental in, what he would say, ‘spreading the stoke.’”
Butch Maier
