“All my songs were solo voices. Just me singing. In fact, that was the gimmick – no gimmick. Just singing straight with not too much background.”

All around as a person, on right decisions, on holding your money, on doing your trade, a good education is a must. I don’t think I would’ve done as good without an education.

To me, there was nothing greater than to play for an audience and to entertain people and that has stayed with me all these years.

I remember Mick Jagger asking me ‘hey, how do you guys feel about us coming over here and taking all the play from you guys?’ I said ‘Well, in a way, you have eliminated all my competition.

Session musicians kind of respected me because what I was talking about made sense. That all came from an education. Believe me, education does you more good. Maybe that’s the reason I’ve been around so long.

I did have a big following in the upper New York area. I was at the New York State Fair a few times over the years. I have areas that I say are my areas.

I don’t wanna say goodbye for the summer Knowing the love we’ll miss Oh let us make a pledge to meet in September And seal it with a kiss Guess it’s gonna be a cold lonely summer But I’ll fill the emptiness I’ll send you all my love every day in a letter Sealed with a kiss.

I had been on tour with people like Roy Orbison. I knew Bobby Darin, Sam Cooke. So many great performers.

I don’t know how long I’ll be competing but I’ll always be surfing. I’ll be surfing until I’m old.

I have had national security background, 10 years on the Intelligence Committee, the last two years as chair.

Like, with one arm I know I can surf, but competitive surfing can be really frustrating, and sometimes you don’t do as well as you want to. It can be discouraging at times. But whenever I do get frustrated, I just focus on God.

Surfing for me is more than my lifestyle; it’s my passion, my love and it’s a part of me.

Life is a lot like surfing… When you get caught in the impact zone, you’ve got to just get back up. Because you never know what may be over the next wave.

In the end, my love for surfing helped me overcome my fear of sharks.

God created the heavens and the earth, the oceans and the waves for our enjoyment. Surfing is just my way of worshipping Him.

Both of my parents are surfers, of course, so they understood where my passion for surfing was at and I guess they saw the talent that I had.