Surfer wants to go mainstream

For a surfer to befriend famous hip hop artist Lil’ Jon is one thing, considering the seemingly polar-opposite affiliations they have.

And for that surfer to get the rapper to provide his sponsorship for an action-sport athlete is on another level. It’s unique, a new type of venture.

Unique, though, could be the only way to describe how professional surfer Travis Mellem has reached the point in his career he is at now.

In his younger days Mellem, now 23, was on a tear in the surf world, winning five total amateur conference championships by the age of 18.

Those championships put him in contention to compete annually for amateur national championships — winning the title at the age of 15.

This was just one of the steps on the road to gain notoriety for himself and respect from his peers — something that could help build success in the action-sports world.

And one of those peers was Ian Calderon.

Calderon, 23, a student at Long Beach State, competed against his friend Mellem and ironically is now his manager.

“Growing up in the surf world, you know which guys are hard to beat and which guys are going to be in the final every time,” Calderon said. “Travis was that guy.”

But the road to success came with tribulation for Mellem. His career was in jeopardy after breaking his left foot on two separate occasions, which caused him to take a 1 1/2 year hiatus.

Aspirations of entering the Association of Surfing Professionals World Qualifying Series at the age of 18 were on hold.

For him, this was the perfect age because he would be finished with high school and able to travel without restriction.

According to ASPworldtour.com, the WQS is a string of approximately 45 events that surfers need to participate in to make their way to the ASP World Tour — the highly-coveted world competition level.

By entering in the World Tour, the surfer has the opportunity to be crowned world champion.

During his injury, Mellem found a position at Oakley in the marketing department but he knew it was not going to last because of his desire to get back on the surfboard and compete.

“I took a step back from surfing knowing I wanted to come back. Everything I did while I was away was for surfing [and coming back from injury],” Mellem said.

As luck would have it, while working at Oakley he met Lil’ Jon — the musician and self-proclaimed “King of Crunk” — who had formed a crew of hip-hop artists called BME Click.

Lil’ Jon wanted to add to his posse while entering a realm trekked by no other rap star. And judging by his investments, it was the extreme sports world.

So he recruited Mellem and other athletes like skateboarders Greg Lutzka and Ryan Sheckler along with snowboarder Danny Kass, Louie Vito and snowboarding personality The Dingo.

The BME Click members have entered in the spotlight in the past year, with Sheckler being on the MTV show, “Life of Ryan,” and The Dingo being a feature host for the Winter X-Games.

The two realize that they are in a unique position with the BME sponsorship and are really pushing the possibility gaining celebrity with the sponsorship.

Eventually, they want Mellem to be a household name.

“I’m tired of seeing Tiger Woods and these other guys on Nike commercials when there should be a surfer,” Calderon said. “You have guys like Sheckler for skating and even Shaun White for snowboarding in the spotlight. Why isn’t there a surfer there?”

Now, the tandem knows that Kelly Slater has come close to becoming a household name. But they want to do more than what Slater has done, just in a slightly different manner.

“You don’t have to come up with something new,” Mellem said. “You just have to alter it by 10 percent. We’re not trying to redefine surfing, we’re just trying to alter it.”

In the coming months, Mellem will be in Australia and South Africa to compete in the WQS before returning to Southern California to make his contention in the Bodyglove Surfbout in San Clemente in April.