Bodyboarding was invented in 1971 by the American surfer, entrepreneur, and musician Tom Morey. On July 7, he cut a rectangular shape of polyethylene foam and covered it with newspaper.
The first bodyboard was born, and history was made. Bodyboarding will be 50 years old in 2021.
Also called "boogie board" because of Tom's passion for music (the boogie rhythm), the new wave riding formula was inspired by the Bahá'í Faith, a religion that focuses on the spiritual unity of all humankind.
In 1975, Tom Morey sold his Morey Boogie company and only returned to the surfing business in 1999 to create the Starwaves and TomMorey.com brands.
By the late 1970s, more than 80,000 bodyboards were produced and sold in the USA. Morey now calls himself "Y."
Read the story about the original Morey Boogie bodyboard.