Thank God for Alex Gray.

I know what you’re thinking right now, Whoa, slow down on the hyperbole blogger man.

But I mean it. In this day and age of pro surfers with coaches, pro surfers with trainers, pro surfers with entourages, pro surfers spouting cliches straight out of the ASP handbook bundled for consumption on Sports Center, Alex is a rare commodity–a true personality and entertainer.

Not since the glory days of Brad Gerlach (Gerr’s got the best Occy impersonation ever, Occy even laughs at it) has the USA spawned an honest-to-God character with the charisma, humor and surfing chops to match A. Gray.

His evolution from NSSA starlet to big wave hellman has been well-documented as have his funny-man exploits.

But like many hilarious humans, the jokes veil a deep tragedy. Alex lost his brother to a drug overdose when he was still in high school, and the scars still remain. Yet he’s never let his brother’s death define him, instead he visits Southern California high schools and talks to teens about drugs, challenging them to stand up to the peer pressure and live a healthier lifestyle. The fact that he’s not out promoting his ‘good deeds’ says volumes about the man. Here’s to more surfers who choose their own path and entertain us along the way.

He is out promoting his surfing, however, and it’s damn good. Check out more from Alex at turkeymelt.com and watch Part 1 of the latest from Alex and Body Glove in-house filmer Mike Nulty below: