The Greater Wilmington Sports
Hall of Fame was formed in
2006 by then Wrightsville
resident, famed former head
football coach Bill Dooley and a limited
circle of like-minded professionals.
The GWSHOF meets at annual induction
banquets, honoring those that have
brought excellence and greater awareness
to sports. The GWSHOF houses exhibits
at the Cape Fear Museum of History and
Science in Wilmington. The exhibits pay
tribute to those individuals who have made
an indelible mark on sports. Professional
surfer Ben Bourgeois was inducted in 2010.
Bourgeois is the International Team
Rider of Team Sweetwater, sponsored by
Sweetwater Surf Shop, owned by his family
in Wrightsville Beach. He became a
professional surfer in 2001 and has been
honored for his surfing achievements, of
national and international acclaim.
“I was definitely surprised about the
hall of fame news,” Bourgeois says. “It’s
really cool they acknowledged my career,
surfing and its growth. It’s a cool thing to
get recognition in my hometown, where
I grew up. When I found out about it, I
made a special trip back home to receive
the award. I wouldn’t have missed it. I’m
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WBM august 2011
glad to be a part of it.”
Bourgeois won two East Coast Surfing
Championship titles and was named to
the USA Team in 1996. His first international
win came in Bali in 1996. Then he
won titles in Japan in 2001, Barbados in
2006 and England in 2007. He has been
a smashing success on the World Cup
Ben Bourgeois
2010 Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame Inductee
Clockwise from left: Reef/Sweetwater Pro-
Am Surf Fest, 2009. Greater Wilmington
Sports Hall of Fame ceremony, 2010.
Judging Benny B’s Pimp My Blaze surf
contest, 2008. Reef/Sweetwater Pro-Am
Surf Fest, 2010. WBM file photos.