best_year stance favorite_waves website years_active favorite_maneuvers birth_place weight height shapers birth_date residence sponsors image article_title name
ranked 4th on the asp world tour , 2001 regular -lrb- natural -rrb- foot pipeline , rincon and restaurants -lsb- http://www.aspworldtour.com/surfers/mens-profiles/taylor-knox/ asp world tour page -rsb- 1993 - present carves thousand oaks , california , u.s. 170 lb kg on 5 10 al merrick 15 may 1971 carlsbad , california rip -rsb- sandals and shoes , channel islands surfboards , detour curl protein , oam accessories and dragon . wetsuits and clothing , -lsb- http://www.reef.com/ reef taylorknox.jpg taylor knox
 taylor knox
taylor knox

taylor knox -lrb- born may 15 , 1971 -rrb- is an american professional surfer .
he is currently retired from the asp world tour .
knox was born in thousand oaks , california and began surfing at 8 years old .
he moved with his family to carlsbad at 13 and continued to pursue his dream of becoming a pro surfer .
at age 15 , he had to undergo back surgery after a damaged lumbar vertebra from a skateboarding accident threatened to paralyze him .
he spent the next six months in a cocoon-like body cast .
in 1990 , knox participated in the world amateur championships in japan .
he finished fourth place , ahead of fellow usa team mate kelly slater , who placed fifth .
he began his asp world tour campaign in 1993 .
in february 1998 , knox won the inaugural k2 big-wave challenge , an event that offered $ 50,000 to the surfer who caught the biggest wave of the winter and had photographic evidence .
the winning wave was a 52-foot ride at todos santos during the reef big-wave world championships .
in 1999 knox took a one year hiatus from the world tour .
he returned in 2001 and achieved his highest asp world tour rating of 4th place .
in august 2011 , knox was inducted into the surfers ' hall of fame at huntington beach alongside george downing and chuck linnen .
surfers ' hall of fame founder aaron pai said knox had `` influenced an entire generation of surfers '' .
as of 2011 , his total career earnings are $ 1,028,422.00 .
the 2011 season is his 18th season on tour .
in addition to surfing , knox was also involved with the video game left 4 dead released by valve corporation in 2008 .
the character francis is modeled after him .
taylor 's trademark brand of power surfing led to an uncommon surfboard design in 2012 when he worked with al merrick to create the channel islands dagger ; a surfboard with an abnormally deep double concave and downturned rail .
taylor knox is known for his feracious frontside hacks , where he utilized his power and speed to put himself on the most critical sections of the wave .
while on the winner 's podium after the hurley pro at lower trestle 's in 1999 , he thanked costa mesan surfer taylor lobdell with teaching him these `` man-turns '' .
while he was on the podium , the camera panned to the lineup , where lobdell was seen absolutely destroying a 6 ' wall , top to bottom , completing a total of 12 man-hacks on one wave and finishing with a roundhouse that slater said `` was the turn heard around the world . ''
