He smiled broadly on the victory stand, his grandson in one arm and his out-sized first-prize check in the other.

Then, on his way home, Sunny Garcia considered killing himself.

"The only thing I could think of was driving my car into a pole," the Hall of Fame surfer said. "It’s a hard thing to deal with when you should be happy and you don’t know what’s going on in your brain."

It was November 2012, heading home to his house at Pipeline from the HIC Pro at Sunset Beach. At age 42, the six-time Triple Crown champion had just become the oldest competitor to win an Association of Surfing Professionals event.

He was happy, but only briefly. Emotions quickly turned to emptiness and despair, and he did not know why.

"I didn’t want to go see a doctor," he said. "I didn’t want to be put on medication."

But he went public, reaching out on social media for advice. A friend suggested he see a sports psychologist.

"To sit down with someone who wouldn’t make me feel like something was wrong with me was important," said Garcia, who learned he suffers from depression.

He needed new challenges. So he took up endurance sports, and is entered in the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona on Saturday.

The Ironman gives him a platform for another passion that helps curb depression. Admittedly a taker the first half of his life, Garcia said he wants to be a giver in the second. As of Thursday, in conjunction with his triathlon effort he had raised $45,990 of his goal of $50,000 for Smile Train, a charity providing corrective surgery for children with cleft lips and palates.

Garcia also helps young people in need through the Mauli Ola Foundation. People with cystic fibrosis can relieve congestion caused by the disease via exposure to salt water. Garcia still tours — but now as a member of Surf Experience Days, getting kids with CF out into the ocean.

"I grew up in the ’80s when a lot of the professional surfers were a lot more selfish," he said. "It was every man for himself. I wanted to make sure I left the sport better than when I came in."

A true prodigy out of Waianae, Garcia has been a full-time pro since 16. Brash, strong and talented, he held little respect for authority.

"I wondered how he got the name Sunny," said ASP official and former pro surfer Randy Rarick. "Because he sure didn’t have a sunny disposition."

He surfed best angry, and he had stuff to be angry about, or looked for it. Coming from a broken home. Perceived disrespect from organizers and other surfers. Whatever chip he could get his hand on, he planted it on his shoulder.

Fellow pro Derek Ho was asked his first impression. "Little kid. Skinny. Broken nose on his face, broken nose on his board."

While most his age were sweating algebra and learning to drive, he traveled the world getting paid to surf. Living the dream, except …

"Missing home, missing my family. Wasn’t making that much that first year. Slept on the beach, didn’t have enough to eat. I probably was suffering from some depression then, but didn’t have time to think about it."

He battled through it, steadily mastering his craft and then dominating the Triple Crowns from his early 20s to mid 30s.

But the same fury that gave him a competitive edge betrayed him, as he argued with event organizers and fought with other surfers (as recently as 2011).

His role as a heavy in a 2003 reality show, "Boarding House: North Shore," enhanced the outlaw image. Then, in 2007 Garcia was imprisoned for three months for tax evasion.

Starting as a pro so young (he was in some events at 14) shaped his persona, he said.

"Back then everything was fight, fight, fight. I was portrayed as the bad boy of surfing. I grew out of that. But anytime I got in trouble, it seemed that was more important to the news than the good stuff. I brought it upon myself and wore it my whole career."

Garcia has matured enough to be appointed Junior Development Officer of the World Surf League (formerly ASP).

"I don’t always agree with the association, but … it’s a house I helped build, and I’m not going to burn down my own house. I want to be part of the solution," he said.

All of the running, swimming and biking has him "in way better shape than ever" at 45.

He learned there’s life after no longer being best in the world at something.

"All of a sudden you’re at home watching TV, watching others do what you did all your life," he said. "For me to reach out and ask for help was really hard. I encourage people to reach out. Depression is an illness, a lot of people don’t know how to reach out and get help, rather than sitting in the house and letting your mind run rampant."

Said Rarick: "For a kid who came from a really socially depressed neighborhood he made an astounding career out of surfing. And now that he’s matured and knows that it’s more important to give he’s really doing so."

Garcia can laugh now about his old image.

"Someone’s got to be the bad guy," he said, smiling. "For me now it’s all about giving back to the kids and promoting surfing. Spending more time with my kids, more time in Hawaii.

"Every day sets up tomorrow. It can get better."

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.