Michael Ho

Champion surfer Michael Ho was born on July 13, 1957 in San Mateo, California. Of Chinese-American descent, Ho was raised in Waimanalo, Hawaii and first began surfing at age three. Michael won the boys' division of the 1970 United States Surfing Championships and placed third in the juniors division in 1971. Ho subsequently placed fifth in the 1972 World Surfing Championships. One of Hawaii's first professional full-time surfers (he was a pro surfer from 1976 to 1988), Michael's most notable surfing achievements include winning the Hawaiian Triple Crown in 1983 and 1985, winning the 1982 Pipeline Masters contest, winning the Xcel Pro in 1988, 1990, 1991, and 1996, winning the Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Contest in 1978 and 1981, placing fourth in the Quicksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau contest in 1990, and, at age 43, winning the World Masters Championships in 2000. Moreover, Ho was inducted into the Surfing Walk Hall of Fame in Huntington Beach, California in 2012. His son Mason Ho and daughter Coco Ho are both professional surfers while his younger brother Derek Ho has likewise excelled as a champion surfer.