Ron DiMenna

East Coast Surf Legends Hall of Fame

DiMenna was born in Newark, New Jersey and joined the Marines in 1956, where he was chosen out of 5,000 other Marines to serve in the first Presidential Honor Guard during President Eisenhower’s administration. After discharge, he got a job with Schickhaus delivering meats in New York City, where he got his first lessons in business from the merchants on his route.

Living near Long Beach Island, NJ in the late fifties, DiMenna was introduced to surfing by Rev. Earl Comfort, a Baptist pastor. They got some foam and fiberglass and together they built surfboards in the pastor’s garage. DiMenna’s pastime soon became a passion, and homemade surfboards would no longer do. When his father heard that his son wanted his own custom surfboard from California, he suggested, “Buy three, sell two at a profit, then yours will be free.” His dad was right, and Ron took the early economics advice to heart. He quickly sold those boards in front of his Dad’s butcher shop and soon ordered more. DiMenna was now in the surfboard business.

In 1961, he opened his first store on Long Beach Island, and Ron Jon Surf Shop was born. He sold plenty of boards from that location and in the early days kept his backup stock at his house in Manahawkin in the attic, under the porch, and spread out on the lawn. He had surfboards everywhere!

Some students from the Art School of South Jersey told him he needed a logo. “What for,” he asked. “To print on your T-shirts.” Using a unique style of lettering, they presented their concept to DiMenna and he said, “I want a ‘thing’ around it.” Huh? “You know, Dewey, Jacobs and Hobie have a ‘thing’ around theirs. I want a ‘thing’ around mine.” Ovals and diamonds were taken. So they created the Ron Jon badge.

Over the next six decades, DiMenna transformed Ron Jon into a world-famous surfing destination. The focus on the Ron Jon logo and its use on stickers, T-shirts and a wide variety of products has built a brand known around the globe. “The Original” Ron Jon Surf Shop on Long Beach Island is now a surf emporium filled with active lifestyle apparel, accessories and boardsports equipment. The “One Of A Kind” location in Cocoa Beach, Florida opened in 1963, and is the world’s largest surf shop and the company’s flagship store. The company also has twelve other stores located in Florida, New Jersey, Alabama, South Carolina and Maryland, as well as licensing agreements with stores in Las Vegas, in three US airports, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Ron made his mark in the surf industry and created an iconic brand and a retail experience that has become a generational rite of passage for beachgoers from around the world.