Quotes from this interview by Matt Warshaw were used for a 1996 Surfer's Journal articled titled "Green on Blue: Kelly Slater’s Million Dollar Deal, and Other Thoughts on Surfing for Hire." Propper was 49 years old.

You sold a ton of Gary Propper Model surfboards in '66 and '67, won a million contests, but you didn't have a super-high profile here in California, or in Hawaii.

I never went to Australia. I never really went anywhere back then. I wanted to be strictly East Coast. Nothing else. I knew I was going to just kill it there. And also, you know, I was a small-wave specialist. Riding choppy, shitty waves—that's where I was at. So the contests I focused on were the all the beachbreak contests.

Seemed like you kind of avoided the photographers and moviemakers as well.

I didn't want to be in any films. If they didn't pay me, I didn't do it. I loved David [Nuuhiwa] and Corky [Carroll], and 

 were in all the films, and I'd always give 'em shit because my model sold way more than their’s were. And that's all I cared about!

When did you start thinking of yourself as a professional surfer?

I wrote "Athlete-Professional Surfer" on my 1964 tax return. It was the coolest. I was 17, and already getting money from Surfboards Hawaii. They were paying me a couple hundred a month to ride for 'em. In '64!

You and Corky both rode for Hobie after that. Didn't you come stay with Corky at some point?

In 1966 I stayed with Corky in Laguna Beach. It was the coolest place I've ever been. And the most artistic. People say San Francisco, but later on, when I was promoting bands, I toured everywhere, and in certain aspects, yes, SF was the coolest. But Laguna had everything. And it had warmer waves.


He won everything. Corky had a way about him—just so physical, and he was such a mad competitor, such a great talker. He was Cassius Clay.

You know where he killed? The Mini Model. Corky had the first legit shortboard model. It blew me out of the water. At that time I only had the Propper Pintail going. And I want to tell you something. Warren Bolster, the photographer? Warren just set Corky on fire on the East Coast. He was the first guy to ride a Mini Model here in Florida, and he rode the shit out those things. Bolster was a contender back then. So people saw him on the Mini, and I had these guys who were my best friends suddenly riding those boards. I mean, Corky just killed.

So you were second, as far as board sales, to Corky?

 more. Corky just had that one period where his board was on fire. Maybe a year, that was about it. Before and after. I was ahead.

Was the money coming in from other sources too, or just from the boards?

Oh, yeah, other sources. Many other sources. I was an O'Neill rep. I was doing event productions, even back then, surf stomps and things like that. I'd do a stomp, and have my boards in there, sell a few boards. Kanvas by Katin shit everywhere, I was repping them. Wax Research, too.

What year did you make the most money from surfing?

(Long pause) Maybe '67. And it was quite a bit. I bought a Jag and toured around for a while. Just this bitchin' Jag coup, British racing green. David Nuuhiwa had a big white one, and everybody thought it was a Rolls Royce, but it was a Jag. So that got me super pumped up, seeing David in that car.

Corky said his best year as a pro surfer, money-wise, was '68. Same for you?

(Hesitant) Corky topped out at $40,000. I guess I wanted to ask . . . how did you do?

(Bursts out laughing) Are you kidding? The other side, man! 

 Do you have any idea how many Propper Models I sold? I fuckin' took over the Hobie factory that year! Plus selling Katin and O'Neill? I made $12,000 that year from O'Neill just from the Ron Jon shop alone! It was a joke, man! A JOKE!

(Slight pause) That year, '67, all things included, I was close to $100,000.

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