Phil Becker: Surfing’s John Henry lays down his Rockwell planer
by Kevin Cody Phil Becker was the most prolific and most under celebrated surfboard shaper in history, by his own design. Becker used three Rockwell planers, all bought in 1965 and periodically rebuilt, to shape over 130,000 surfboards. The closest other person to shape that many boards was Hobie Surfboards’ Terry Martin, who shaped an estimated 80,000 surfboards before passing away in 2012, at age 75. Channel Islands’ Al Merrick is thought to have shaped 45,000 surfboards. “Phil bicycled to the factory on Cypress from his duplex on 24th, carrying a peanut butter and banana sandwich in a brown paper bag, and shaped 11 boards a day, four days a week for four decades,” Becker’s longtime glasser Steve Mangiagli said. “During the Blue Crush years, in the early 2000s, he was doing 66 boards a week.” (Mangiagli began glassing Becker’s boards in 1970, making him the most prolific and most under celebrated glasser in surfing history.) “Phil never missed a day of work. He worked the day his mother died,” recalled Becker’s longtime glosser and pinstriper, Dave Hollander. “When Nat Young came by the factory to visit Phil, Phil kept on shaping.” (Young is a former world surfing champion, from…
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