An open letter to CJ Hobgood from Globe’s Joe G:
Hey CJ! The Surfing Hall of Fame? Jeez - Congratulations. Not bad for a Florida boy!
It’s been a long and exciting road. Thanks so much for letting all of us tag along.
Oh yeah, also - thanks for teaching us to go out and pursue our dreams relentlessly, no matter what town we came from. And thanks for teaching us how to win it all...with grace. Thanks for not fitting neatly into the mold or sticking to the formula. Thanks for being crazy enough to turn and go when it seemed impossible...unmakeable. And in doing so, teaching us that maybe we could do it too. Thanks for standing your ground and being yourself when the whole world seemed to want something different from you. Thanks for your humility and your persistent smile.
Thank you CJ Hobgood. Your biggest achievement was not that you became The World Champion, it’s that you became a Champion of the real world.
Love and respect,
Joe G and the entire Globe Family
#usopenofsurfing