Quote:
Originally Posted by cwd
he deserves a stake in that company, he is the main reason they are as big as they are.
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Back when Kelly was around ten years old my friend had a surfboard/surf shop company called Quiet Flight and they sponsored Kelly. Back then it was huge for the kids to get " sponsored " because they would get free surfboards, some clothes and their surf contest entrance fee paid. The better sponsored paid some travel expenses but that was about it.
Back then there wasn't much money in competitive surfing and the only people making any money were the surfboard and clothing manufacturers which still had not gone mainstream at that time. The surf / skate subculture hadn't made it's way to department stores and malls yet so there wasn't any real BIG money to hand out to the surfers.
Then one day a surf company called Quicksilver threw some money at Kelly and the landscape changed. I don't remember the exact amount Kelly first got but I do remember it was A LOT more than any of the other local Cocoa Beach surfers were getting or even dreamed of getting. At that time there was a lot of jealousy going on in the water and I remember when Kelly would paddle out there would be a buzz in the water. Not for his surfing but because he got the sweet deal from Quicksilver.
Over time Kelly proved his worth to Quicksilver 1,000 times over and more importantly earned the respect of his fellow surfers world wide. Everyone knows that Kelly Slater deserves everything he's got out of life and that says a lot about him as a person. Quicksilver saw his potential and with that investment Kelly had the resources to cultivate his talent to an unprecedented level of which will most likely never be surpassed.
The longtime association between Slater and Quicksilver is a win win for both and for the surfing community and I'm willing to bet that the jealousy is long gone as everyone knows that Kelly earned and deserves it.