Andy Irons was a loved surfer who grew up on the North Shore, Oahu, also known as “the 7 Mile Miracle.” Andy Irons won 3 world titles against Kelly Slater, and had amazing style . Many people can’t even imagine the life that Andy Irons lived.
Irons was born in Lihue, Kauai, July 24, 1978 the majority of his early life was spent surfing. He and his brother, Bruce Irons were the top kids in their surf division for many years, gaining various sponsors. He moved to the North Shore of Hawaii where he and his friends took the Pipeline by storm. In high school, he won HIC Pipeline Pro competition, from there after he went on to win at Teahupo’o; years during,
There, he and his friends became known as “WolfPak.”
They strongly believed in localism and would physically clear out people who didn’t belong in the lineup by yelling them out of the lineup or physically removing them from the lineup. They didn’t do this for fun, though Pipeline is a world-class wave in total: there have been 13 deaths. If somebody is out there and doesn’t know what they’re doing, they could endanger both themselves and others. Irons and his friends were “protecting their turf” in a sense, Pipeline was their home so they didn’t always let new people in, especially if they were headstrong. The Wolfpak was Irons’ tight crew of friends who always had his back up until the very end.
When Andy Irons made it into the WSL (World Surf League) in 1997 at age 19, he was surprised to find out that it was mostly made of people who liked to party hard. From drinking; smoking; illegal substances, he got caught up in it as a young adult, which would be a factor to why he died early. Besides that, he was able to travel the world surfing.
Irons was highly bipolar, which could cause him to lash out. He didn’t want to take prescriptions from the doctors, so he just tried to deal with it himself, most likely causing his problems with drug and alcohol abuse. Irons even broke his brother’s nose over a pool game once, but within the next hour, he was perfectly fine with him. But the only way he managed his Bipolar was surfing, it would also cause his drive to surf in a therapeutic sense.
Irons had a strong rivalry with Kelly Slater, who’ve won against him 2 times for the World Title. This rivalry pushed Irons to keep going and winning titles. Irons later on dropped out of the WSL in 2009 for rehab causing the brand, Billabong to cut his pay. He came back in 2010 and lost 4 events. Soon after he started winning again. He was found dead in a hotel in Dallas, Texas he died of a heart attack caused by overdosing on lethal levels of cocaine, methadone, methamphetamine, and Xanax in his bloodstream.
The legacy of Andy Irons still lives today in many different ways. Whether it’s in his movie titled “Kissed by God,” or personally knowing him. He’s a role model to many kids who learn from his mistakes, and his surf turns. Andy will forever be remembered as one of the greatest surfers of all time.