Tom Blake was a fascinating guy and that’s putting it mildly. He has been described as an adventurer, surfer, lifeguard, writer, traveler, photographer, stuntman and inventor, which may not sound like much, but think about this, he was born in 1904 in rural Wisconsin! At the age of 18, he left his home in the mid west and headed to California, via freight train. Once he arrive in the land of sunshine and palm trees, he developed a love for the water ~ swimming and surfing. He became friends with several ISHOF Honorees, first, swimming for the great Fred Cady, Coach of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, and soon, he was swimming alongside some of the best, including Johnny Weissmuller. He was an incredible athlete and excelled at every thing he tried.

Blake would eventually head to Hawaii in 1924, where he would meet and build a lifelong relationship with Duke Kahanamoku, who would later become known as the “Father of Surfing”. It was with the Duke that Blake’s relationship with surfing began. He eventually returned to California a few years later, and it was then he began creating his own surfboards, modeled after the ancient ones he had seen in Hawaii while surfing with the Duke. But that was only the beginning of Blake’s life and “inventing”. He would go on to become a stuntman in Hollywood with Clarke Gable, invent more things, mostly having to do with “water”, surfing, swimming, the first underwater camera, helping the Coast Guard, attempting world records with the Duke, lifesaving, swimming in open water swimming championships…. the guy did it all!
Read more about Blake in the two biographies below.
The National Inventors Hall of Fame is inducting Thomas E. Blake (March 8, 1902 – May 5, 1994) as part of the Class of 2025. We congratulate him on his many achievements!
Read his 2025 National Inventors Hall of Fame bio here: https://www.invent.org/inductees/tom-blake
Read Thomas Blake’s 1992 ISHOF bio here: https://ishof.org/honoree/honoreetom-blake/