The consummate professional, Dave Stanfield always showed up at the beach with a smile on his face and a lightness in his heart. Commentating surf events big and small for over 40 years, he deeply appreciated just how lucky he was to go to work at the beach every day.
Coming of age in the heady surf community of Seal Beach, Stanfield caught his first wave at age five. He joined the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) in 1983 and immediately was assigned to call the OP Pro Surfing Championships in Huntington Beach for ABC, launching a career that would largely exemplify the evolution of professional surf broadcasting.
Over the years, Stanfield worked events across the surfing spectrum. From Championship Tour showdowns to youth-focused comps hosted by the National Scholastic Surfing Association and Surfing America. But it was in Hawaii, particularly at the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, where his voice became a fixture for countless fans following the season’s most consequential contests.
But Stanfield was more than a narrator of heats. He helped transform how surfing was presented to the world. When he began, contests coverage relied heavily on traditional television broadcasts, often tape-delayed to air during less-than-peak hours. By the time the internet reshaped sports media, he was calling contests for a global audience watching live online.
In 1997, a pioneering effort at Praia Grande in Portugal brought live surf competition to the internet for one of the first-ever webcasts, with organizers running kilometers of data cables across the beach. The audience was small by modern standards, but the implications were enormous: surfing could reach people around the world as the action happened, opening new possibilities for sponsorship and exposure.
Stanfield had a keen understanding that technology alone does not make a broadcast compelling. A people person by nature, he was well loved and respected by athletes and event organizers alike, which shone through in his work. He prided himself on being prepared for his gigs, often showing up at the beach with big, heavy binders filled with stats and information about each and every surfer in the draw. His professionalism coupled with his passion for his job elevated the art of calling a comp.
Like Chick Hearn or Vin Scully, who put their personal stamps on Laker and Dodger broadcasts, Stanfield’s delivery was anything but understated. With a seemingly bottomless supply of colorful expressions and high-octane enthusiasm, he could turn a routine heat into a full-blown spectacle. His signature brand of surf commentary became part of the entertainment itself. And Stanfield was hardly a one-trick pony. He spent years commentating other sporting events, including skiing, motocross, and my personal favorite, lawn mower racing.
As the sport moved from network television to webcasts and modern livestreams, Stanfield remained part of its broadcast history. His legacy is woven into the soundtrack of competitive surfing, a reminder that the sport’s history is shaped not only by the surfers in the water, but also by the voices that bring their performances to the world.
Stanfield’s passing comes after a hard-fought battle with cancer. More information to come as details become available.
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