Col Smith will be inducted as the 36th member of the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame.
Smith was a dominant figure at Sydney's North Narrabeen during the 1970s and 1980s, when the area not only produced some of Australia's most influential surfers but also surfing ideas that impacted the sport on a global scale.
Smith's aggressive, goofy foot vertical attack on the wave was considered quite radical at the time and surfers in the area were in awe of his ability.
He won an Australian title in 1977, but it was the list of surfers he inspired that reflects Smith's legacy to Australian surfing.
Simon Anderson, inventor of the thruster, grew up watching Smith at North Narrabeen and regarded him as one of the best surfers in the world at the time.
Smith was also a respected surfboard shaper. He created the Morning Star and mentored a young Tom Carroll, another Sydney Northern Beaches goofy footer, who would take Smith's vertical top-to-bottom, lip-bashing assault on a wave to the world stage and two world titles.