Three men who spent as much of their life in the ocean as out of it will be inducted into the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame tonight at the Honolulu Country Club.

Three-time Association of Surfing Professional world champion Andy Irons heads the 2012 class of inductees, with Olympic medalist Samuel Alapai Kahanamoku and surfing contributor George Downing joining him in this unique collection of island athletes.

Irons, who was born in Lihue and graduated from Kapaa High in 1996, learned to surf as an 8-year-old at Pine Trees Beach on the north shore of Kauai. As a 17-year-old, Irons won the HIC Pipeline Pro; he qualified for the ASP tour just three years later. Starting in 2002, Irons won three consecutive ASP world championships and was a regular member on tour until his death in Texas in November 2010. He was 32 and is survived by his wife and son.

Kahanamoku is the younger brother of Duke. He earned a bronze medal in the 100-meter freestyle in a time of 1 minute, 1.8 seconds at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. He was one of the top sprint swimmers in the 1920s and died in April 1966.

Downing began surfing at age 9 and is one of the original big-wave surfers. In his teens, he became a student of the sport, observing weather and reef structure to fully comprehend the effects of swell size and wave direction. He put that knowledge to good use by creating a revolutionary surfboard design for those surfing the big waves in the 1950s. Downing’s 10-foot rocket design had the first removable fin and was a key component in surfing waves of 20 and 30 feet. What started as a love for surfing transformed into a business called Downing Hawaii. He remains active in the surfing community.

There will be no-host cocktails beginning at 5:30 p.m. today, with dinner served at 6:15 p.m.