What’s in a Name? ‘The Terminator’ Says Everything : Surfer John Parmenter Sets Himself Apart

John Parmenter made a name for himself in more ways than one on a summer day in 1985.

Really, it was just one of those off-the-cuff comments made in the heat of competition, but it has stood the test of the past three years and served Parmenter, a professional surfer from Huntington Beach, well.

The occasion was a surfing contest at Carlsbad, and Parmenter was locked in a battle with another surfer in a late-round heat. The public address announcer interviewed Parmenter before the pair went into the water.

Parmenter, now 25, said something to the effect that he was going to “terminate” his opponent.

The movie “The Terminator,” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, was a box-office hit at the time, and thoughts of the film popped into Parmenter’s head while he was being interviewed.

Parmenter won the contest, and an image--conveying an aggressive, go-for-broke surfing style--was born.

He may forever be known as John (The Terminator) Parmenter.

“You have to make your whole style up, like they do in professional wrestling,” said Parmenter, who is one of the favorites to win the $55,000 Body Glove Surf Bout championship, which will conclude Sunday at Salt Creek Beach Park. “If not, you’re just another face in the crowd.”

Before that ’85 contest, Parmenter was generally regarded as the younger brother of Dave Parmenter, a professional surfer known as one of the top big-wave riders in the world.

“No one wants to be in the shadow of their big brother,” John Parmenter said.

Having a distinctive image is an important part of maintaining a top-level income on the pro tour, Parmenter said. The Salt Creek contest winner will earn $20,000, plus as much as $1,000 in bonus money for winning heats. Organizers say it is the largest first-place prize in surfing.

But the competition for endorsements is often just as fierce as the surfing itself.

Parmenter, the fifth-ranked surfer on the Professional Surfing Assn. of America tour, is often seen in surfing magazines and is involved in the marketing of a line of surf wear. He also helps stage surfing clinics, writes a newsletter for the touring pros and makes appearances at stops on the tour. The PSAA is one of two men’s tours, the other being the Assn. of Surfing Professionals, which sponsors events all over the world.

Parmenter said he finds the business end of his job a little taxing. He’d rather be in the water, riding the waves off Huntington Beach, but it’s a necessary ingredient in remaining a pro.

“The ultimate thing is surfing as hard as I can,” said Parmenter, who also works at a surf shop in Huntington Beach. “But I have to put up with negotiating promotions and sitting in a mall in Texas somewhere.

“When I’m 35, I’d love to live in a little shack on the beach and just surf.”

Parmenter, who is married and has a 7-month-old daughter, moved to Orange County from Cayucos in San Luis Obispo County about two years ago.

The area around Cayucos is much less densely populated than most of Orange County and is an ideal setting for surfing, but it is not much of a place for making money as a surfer.

Parmenter, who lived in Newport Beach until his family moved north when he was 13, found many points that were perfect for surfing there.

“There were 50 nooks and crannies that no one knows about,” Parmenter said. “I’d go for any spot. It ended up making me better.”

Once, when he was 14, he followed his brother into the stormy surf. It was raining hard and by the time the brothers had paddled out into the surf line, the waves had grown from 6-8 feet to 12-15.

Dave took off on a huge wave, leaving John to fend for himself in the growing storm. John was reluctant to catch such big waves, but a lighting bolt crackled not far from where he was bobbing in the water. The lighting scared him into catching the next wave in.

“It was like life or death,” he said. “All I wanted to do after that was get home and read the new Surfer (magazine).”

At Coast Union High School, Parmenter became the school’s star pitcher on the baseball team. He went on to Shasta Community College in Northern California, but an elbow injury cut short his baseball career.

And Parmenter missed the beach and the waves.

So it was back to Cayucos, and shortly thereafter, he moved to Huntington Beach.

“It was either that or end up as a waiter or a construction worker,” Parmenter said.

“At first there was (no money in surfing). You had to live with six guys and fight over a can of chili. But with a little promotion, I put myself right in the middle of things.”