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Mike Young and a dedicated
By Anthony Sommer
band of surfers barnstorm schools
to keep kids out of such stuff
Kauai correspondentKEKAHA, Kauai -- "The kids show up because of the speakers and the prizes," Mike Young says. "But we hope, we believe, they take away a lot more."
Young is the founder of Waveriders Against Drugs, a group of professional surfers that has spoken to more than 56,000 youngsters in the past five years.
Over the years, he has enlisted world-class surfers Kelly Slater, Cody Graham, bodyboarder Alex Kinimaka and a long list of others to join him on his barnstorming tours of schools in Hawaii and California.
Young on Friday will be among a dozen recipients of the Ola Pono Award, given annually to individuals and groups in Hawaii that advocate against drug use. The award, which translated means "Living Right," is sponsored by the Hawaii Medical Service Association, the state attorney general's office, the Department of Education and NBC Hawaii News 8.As proud as he is of Waveriders Against Drugs, Young, 49, describes himself first as a singer, slack-string guitarist, songwriter and surfing instructor. "Nani O Kauai," a song he wrote and recorded in 1986, remains a standard on radio stations that play traditional Hawaiian music.
And he is about to release a new album of his songs, with the profits going to support Waveriders Against Drugs.
"If he wasn't so involved with Waveriders, Mike could be making a fortune with his music," said Nani Marston, marketing manager for a high-tech company on Kauai, who also is a professional singer and songwriter, and a friend for more than two decades. "Make sure he brings his guitar when you interview him."
But she is equally enthusiastic about his Waveriders presentations."One of my sons heard Mike's program in school recently and came home really stoked," Marston said. "Whatever it takes to get through to kids, he's got it."
Pressed a bit, Young also will tell you he was a Honolulu police officer -- both his father and brother are retired HPD officers. He quit to pursue a music career, then started mixing cocaine and vodka, and then started dealing drugs, got arrested, and went to prison.
Young started Waveriders Against Drugs in 1989 and it was something less than an immediate financial success. He supported it with his earnings from singing and teaching surfing at a Poipu resort, and by living in his car.
In 1995, friends convinced him to move his headquarters to California, where he could woo sponsors. Today, the prizes he gives away at his programs carry logos like Billabong, Quicksilver, Radio Fiji and Stussy. Both Surfing Magazine and Bodyboard Magazine provide stacks of coupons for free subscriptions.
With new financial backing, Young put together a 20-minute video of some of the world's best surfers and skateboarders speaking out against drug use, and talked many of them into appearing at school assemblies with him. One of his most frequent partners is his son Elijah, 26, a professional big-wave surfer.
For five years, he lived in San Clemente and commuted regularly to Hawaii to present his programs. Last month, he and his wife, Jodi, who writes for surfing magazines, and their 1-year-old son, Kuio, moved back to Kauai.
Young said he got homesick for Hawaii and he believes he is now well enough established with sponsors that he can live in Kekaha and commute to California.
"It's changed a lot since when we started," he said. "In the beginning, we used people like myself who came close to being destroyed by drugs, overcame them and now are successes.
"The focus now is on people who never have used drugs and refuse to risk their futures by using them. I'm not going to tell you that all professional surfers are clean, but all the ones who appear with me are."
Young has to shoehorn Friday's awards ceremony into his speaking schedule. Tomorrow he'll be in Kona, on Thursday in Hana and on Monday on Molokai.
