Tom Curren Headlines Team USA at Upcoming ISA Masters Championships

The year is 1980. Kenny Rogers and Diana Ross are tops in music. Cheech and Chong's "Next Movie" is in theaters. And a young Tom Curren has just touched down in Biarritz, France, for the first iteration of the ISA World Junior Championships. A harbinger of things to come, the soft-spoken California kid tears through the international field to take the win. Two years later, he's crowned the ISA World Men's Champion. And the legend is born from there.

Almost 45 years later, a 60-year-old Curren's back on Team USA and will be waving the flag for the Stars and Stripes at the upcoming ISA World Masters Championships in El Salvador. And as luck would have it, the contest is at a right-hand pointbreak, Curren's preferred environment. The event runs from October 18-24.

Joining Curren on Team USA will be Malibu power broker Allen Sarlo, along with Ben Bourgeois, Nicole Grodesky and Siri Cota. The squad will be led by coach Ryan Simmons. The age divisions for the ISA World Surfing Championship will be 40-49, 50-59 and 60+.

The winner of three WSL world titles, as well as 33 Championship Tour events, adding to the man's impeccable resume, Curren is the only surfer in history win an ISA Junior, Mens, and Masters world title.

And while his competitive success is all well and good, it's what he's done outside the jersey that's really defined his impact on the sport. From his openness to experimenting with surfboard design, to his disregard for the conventions of the surfing establishment, along with his musical adventures, he's a soul surfer's soul surfer. And between Tom Servais's timeless cutback of photo of Curren to Sonny Miller's seminal "Searching For Tom Curren," he's changed the surf game in profound waves and we love him for it.