Ira Opper: Tireless producer of surf videos, documentaries, and television shows from Solana Beach, California; best known as producer/director for the acclaimed Surfer’s Journal cable TV series, which aired on the Outdoor Life Network from 1997 to 2001.

Opper was born (1949) in Hollywood, California, and began surfing at age 15. He received a B.S. in television from Arizona State University in 1971, and five years later produced Solo Sports, cable television’s first surfing series. Opper formed Frontline Video and Film in 1982, and from 1987 to 1991 he produced a weekly primetime Surfer magazine TV series for ESPN, America’s first national weekly prime time surfing show. His shows for the Surfer’s Journal were broken into four documentary series: 50 Years of Surfing on Film (1997) spotlighted surf movie- and video-makers, Great Waves (1998) focused on the world’s most popular surf breaks, and 20th Century Surfers (2000) and Biographies (2001) both looked at famous surfers, past and present. Opper has received four Emmy Awards-two for his surfing programs-between 1982 and 1991. He has also made about two dozen feature-length surf videos, including Vaporware (1994), Powerglide (1995), Super Slide (1999), and Wordz (2002).

Excerpted from "The Encyclopedia of Surfing" by Matt Warshaw.