Farrelly earned his nickname riding an 18-foot wooden surfboard at the age of six with remarkable prowess. By his early teens, he was being idolised by a generation of young surfers around the world.
At the age of 17, he returned to his hometown of Sydney a celebrity after winning the 1962 Makaha International in Hawaii when the event was regarded as the unofficial world championship.
Two year's later, as the 1960s surfing craze was reaching its worldwide peak and grooving to the California Sound of The Beach Boys, Farrelly defeated a strong field of international surfers to win the 1964 World Surfing Championship in Sydney.
More than a half a century later, the sport he helped mould was recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) when it was announced last Wednesday that surfing would debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
"He did things on a surf board that no one had ever seen before," John Coates, president of the Australian Olympic Committee said. "The surfers who compete in Tokyo in 2020 owe him a great deal."
(Editing by John O'Brien)
