Surfing's superhero
Saving lives all in a day's work for popular tour veteran

BY HILLARD GROSSMAN
FLORIDA TODAY

SEBASTIAN INLET - Cory Lopez once saved a girl from drowning and once saved another from being raped.
Pro surfing does have a superhero, and he resides on Florida's West Coast, in the small town of Indian Rocks Beach.

Heading into his 11th consecutive year on the prestigious 45-man World Championship Tour, Lopez has become a fan favorite for all the right reasons. This week, he is the marquee name for his major sponsor, O'Neill, which took over the season-opening Sebastian Inlet Pro, the same contest he won two years ago by beating legendary Kelly Slater in the inaugural event.

Now 29, and fresh off his career-best third-place finish at Hawaii's Pipe Masters (behind Andy Irons and Slater), Lopez has collected plenty of memories -- in and out of the water.

"It was cool to beat Slater at Sebastian, especially the way we traded leads," Lopez said. "But to win the first event there in a long time was a cool moment for me."

Although he grew up across the state, his father, Pete, would drive he and his older brother, Shea, to countless events at Sebastian and up the East Coast. It was Cory's familiarity with the north jetty that helped save a life.

"I remember it was a really big day, and this girl, about 16, got sucked out abut 10 feet from the jetty," he said. Everyone was screaming. I was the closest person to her and I grabbed a hold of her and went through a really big set together, but we finally got her outside, and got her calmed down. She was in such a daze, she just tripped out. She was just in a bad spot."

Lopez was in the right spot walking down the streets of Ybor City as a 17-year-old one night.
A taxi cab driver was attacking a girl in the back seat of his car when Lopez heard the screams. Here he was 140 pounds, trying to fight off a 280-pound menace."I had to grab him and wedge him off the car by putting both of my feet squarely on the side of the door for leverage," he said.

Lopez and the young lady later tracked down the driver based on the cab's identification numbers and he flew back from a contest in Brazil to testify at the trial, which resulted in the cab driver's jail time.

Surfing's superhero has indeed lived a storied life.
He's earned $661,060 on the pro surfing circuit, not including the Sea Doo personal watercraft he won by beating Slater at Sebastian Inlet, and has three acres of land near the Inlet, where he one day plans to build his dream home.

After finishing in a tie for 12th on the WCT, he returned home for Christmas, where one of his mom's gifts to him was a PolarExpress train set.

"Don't ask me why," he said. "But it puffs smoke and everything."
The way Lopez's life has gone, he can blow plenty of smoke.

Contact Grossman at 242-3676 or hgrossma16@yahoo.com