This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer. Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected.
That's why sun protection and timely detection matter. Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at Let's Get RealaboutskinCancer.com. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years.
And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q.
That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. During Lowe's Pro Savings Days, my Lowe's Pro Rewards members can save up to 20% when they buy more job site materials. Save 20% when you buy 30 or more select bats and rolls of fiberglass insulation, 24 or more cartons or pails of joint compound, tape, and bead. Or when you spend $200 or more on free-end painting and job site essentials. Members get more at Lowe's.
Ballot for 925 while supplies last. Selection varies by location. Program subject to terms and conditions. See Lowe's.com slash terms for details. Subject to change.
This is Charlemagne the God from the World's Most Dangerous Morning Show The Breakfast Club.
Now imagine somebody buying a file on us. Our names, addresses, phone numbers, that's what data brokers do. They package our personal information and sell it, exposing us to identity thieves who can open loans, drain investment accounts, or commit crimes in our name. LifeLock's automatic data broker removal tool helps remove our exposed information from these sites. It's identity theft protection for the life you're building.
So get LifeLock at Lifelock.com and use promo code BREAKFAST for up to 30% off your first year. That's LifeLock.com. Cold breakfast. Because isn't your identity worth protecting? Professional wrestling fans, the action continues every week.
Watch CNA Thursday Night Impact every week on AMC. It is like electric. Electricity flowing through your veins. Don't miss the adrenaline, the drama, and the total non-stop action. No one can ever be as good as this right here!
Don't miss the action of TNA Thursday Night Impact every week on AM Singh. For show types and more information, visit TNA Wrestling.com. You're grinding, putting tracks on Spotify, making TikToks, and watching fractions of a cent roll in. Exposure doesn't pay rent. Time for real steaks.
Welcome to The Beam, the new music competition app. Real fans vote. Brands buy your music before it breaks. You win money and exposure. No more chasing algorithms.
Just compete and get paid. Download TheBeam at thebeam.com or on the App Store. Submit your tract. Earn what your music deserves on The Beam, the only chart that writes checks. Indeed Sponsored Jobs gets you quality candidates when you need them most.
Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at indeed.com/slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply.
Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star. And the American people. Roger McGrath is a frequent contributor here on this show.
He's a US Marine and a former UCLA professor. but he spent his youth hanging out with surfers in Malibu in Southern California. And though they weren't aware of it, they were creating a new beach culture. that would soon capture America's imagination. Here's Roger with a story.
Surfing is not a sport. Surfing is a way of life. There are no rules in surfing, no playing field or court with defined limits or boundaries. Surfing is free, natural, individualistic. The phrase surfing contest is an oxymoron.
Competition requires definition, structure, rules, governing bodies, man-made schedules, standards. everything that is the antithesis of surfing. At best, Surfing is an almost holy communion with nature. At worst, It is the ultimate hedonistic indulgence. Has anyone who has ever surfed under ideal conditions Sizable, well-shaped waves, glassy surface, blue sky.
Warm air and sea temperatures, uncrowded waters. And they were telling you what stoked means. Surfing under perfect conditions. brands a soul with an experience so powerful. and sensual.
and yet so sublime that one is never the same again.
Some are left psychically crippled. ever searching for the right combination. of conditions and letting the rest of life slip by. Drug addiction pales in comparison. If you think I'm kidding.
or you simply don't believe me. All I can say is You haven't been there. In 1989, The media made a great hullabaloo over a survey taken of surfers. One of the survey questions asked whether they'd rather surf or have sex. Eighty-three percent of the surfers answered they would rather surf.
The media was astounded and widely publicized the findings. The surfers were astounded too. and embarrassed. They even questioned the accuracy of the survey. They could not believe.
that 17% of surfers would rather have sex. The only surprise I got from the survey was the continued Nice state of surf stoke. despite horribly crowded waters. What are the essentials for a perfect day is more waves than surfers? Showing a wave, unless it is with a buddy, who anticipates your every move and you is.
destroys the experience. The essence of writing a wave is involves working harmoniously with it. doing what the wave suggests, and taking advantage of its critical portion. This can usually only be done when riding the wave alone. The great difference between surfing and say skiing Is the dynamism of a wave versus the static nature of a mountain slope?
The soap remains in place. The wave moves through the water. and is likely to change as it moves, speeding or slowing. improving its shape or turning sloppy. suddenly breaking.
or backing off. crashing with power. are gently feathery. There's nothing like it. Reared in Pacific balisades.
I was a water puppy as a young child. I would hang onto my big brother's back. as he swam through the waves and beyond the surf line. We got good. Do you want that heat me into the air?
and I would splash down a few feet away. It was sink or swim. I quickly became a proficient dog paddler. As I got a bit older, I learned the basic swimming strokes. I started body surfing.
Before I started school. Several of my friends had taken to the waves also, And by the time we were in the third or fourth grade, We would have walked barefoot over hot coals to get to the beach when the surf was up. Our older brothers who were surfing with boards, but that took money. A good balsa wood board, And that's what surfboards were made of in the mid-1950s. Cost $100.
In today's money, that's well more than a thousand. An impossible sum for a young kid. The closest we could come to boards were short canvas mats. with vulcanized rubber ends. that we fill with air until they were rock hard and on the verge of bursting.
I could actually knee pad on my mat like a surfboard. By the time I was ten, I was riding my bicycle with my deflated and folded nap. Up the Coast Highway. to the surfing point next to the Malibu Pier. When surfers say Malibu, They mean nothing else but that point.
I filled my surf mat at a gas station near the pier. Amen. Paddled out to the point. Sitting on their surfboards and waiting for waves, the older guys looked at me curiously and indulgently. I would catch the smaller waves and the leftovers from the sets.
I can remember my first wave at Malibu. It boggled my mind. The shape was perfect. as if made by some great machine. and it seemed to go on forever.
I was accustomed to much shorter and often lumpy bumpy rides. To this day, I have never surfed better wave than a Malibu wave. I've surfed all up and down the California coast. I've surfed in Mexico. I've served in Central America.
I've served in Hawaii. I've surfed in Australia. I've surfed bigger waves. I've served faster ways. I've surfed waves that provided for longer rides.
But I have never surfed better waves. when conditions are right at Malibu. There is no better wave on planet Earth. Malibu is a freak of nature. To the uninformed eye, it looks like any other point of land.
jutting into the ocean. But the bottom is perfectly contoured. with a reef of rock so uniform in size and shape. And so geometrically arranged then it seems impossible it developed naturally. At an extreme minus di, With most of the reef exposed, The rocks look like marbles on a Chinese checkers board.
Every other reef I've ever seen has the big rock, to be avoided. Halfway down the point, or a gap in the reef. or groups of jagged rocks distributed randomly. Not Malibu. The rocks are smooth and round.
looking like moss-covered bowling balls. When we come back, more with Roger McGrath and his story. and his love affair. with surfing. Lee Habib here again.
Our American Stories tries to tell the stories of America's past and present to Americans. And we want to hear your stories too. Send them to us. Go to ouramericanstories.com and click the Your Stories tab. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer.
Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected. That's why sun protection and timely detection matter. Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at let's get real about skincancer.com.
Okay, sis, give me the scoop. What have you been up to? Living my best life. I've been traveling, working, even hiking more, and thanks to T-Mobile, I'm connected for all of it. Really?
I need details. I mean, with America's best network, I can pretty much go anywhere. Even when I'm off-grid, I'm still connected by satellite. That's cool. Plus, I get unlimited texting and data brought, so I'm all set for my trip to Greece.
I don't even need to do anything. It'll just work when I get there. That's it. I gotta get T-Mobile. I don't even get reception in my apartment.
This is why I'm mom's favorite.
So many reasons to join T-Mobile. Find yours at T-Mobile.com. Best mobile network in the US based on analysis by Ooglu Speed Test Intelligence Data first half of 2026. With compatible device in most outdoor areas and select countries where you can see the sky, included with experience beyond or $10 a month, auto-renews monthly against Lanyard. High-speed data on select plans not for extended international use coverage, not available in some areas.
See plan for details. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint.
It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. This is Charlemagne the Guard from the World Most Dangerous Morning Show The Breakfast Club.
Now, imagine somebody buying a file on us. Our names, addresses, phone numbers, that's what data brokers do. They package our personal information and sell it, exposing us to identity thieves who can open loans, drain investment accounts, or commit crimes in our name. LifeLock's automatic data broker removal tool helps remove our exposed information from these sites. It's identity theft protection for the life you're building.
So get LifeLock at Lifelock.com and use promo code Breakfast for up to 30% off your first year. That's Lifelock.com, code Breakfast. Because isn't your identity worth protecting? Professional wrestling fans, the action continues every week. Watch CNA Thursday Night Impact every week on AMC.
It is like a Electricity blowing through your veins. Don't miss the adrenaline, the drama, and the total non-stop action. No one can ever be as good as this right here! Don't miss the action of TNA Thursday Night Impact every week on AM Singh. For showtimes and more information, visit TNAWrestling.com.
Love discovering new music before anyone else? Stop being just a listener. Start making the rules and work with your new favorite artist before they even break. The Beam is a free music competition app where real emerging artists compete, you vote, and massive brands step in to fund the next big name. Your votes change careers.
Find them first. Download thebeam at thebeam.com or on the app store. Vote for an artist you love or discover your next obsession. It's the first music chart that pays artists. Uh You've watched racing.
Now get behind the wheel. At Kaizen Autosport Racing School at VIR, professional race drivers teach you how to drive faster, safer, and with more confidence on one of America's legendary racetracks. Never driven on track? We'll get you started. Already experienced, we'll take you to the next level.
Ready to race? Earn your competition license and learn real wheel-to-wheel racecraft. Stop watching, start driving. Go to racevir.com. That's racevir.com.
And we continue with our American stories and the story of surfing. Let's pick up where we last left off. Here's McGrath. In the late 1950s, I finally got the use of a surfboard. It belonged to Kemp Hallberg.
The big brother of my childhood best buddy, Denny Ahlberg, who years later wrote the screenplay for the movie Big Wednesday. Kemp was one of LA City's outstanding high school pole bowlers. and would have gone on devaulting in college had not the siren call of breaking waves at Malibu gotten the better of him. Lean, wiry, well-conditioned, and highly coordinated. By the time he was 18, he was one of the best surfers in Southern California.
Dale Velzey and Hap Jacobs. Surfboard makers in Hermosa Beach. Gave kept boards to ride. One of them began to delaminate. the process of the fiberglass pulling away from the foam.
a not infrequent problem with the first foam boards. Kemp parked the board on the side of the house. and with enough pleading. Danny and I persuaded him to let us use it. The Villsey Jacobs was 9'6, an ideal size for Kemp.
but a giant for us two little Grammys. Then he would grab the nose, and I'd grab the tail. and we would carry the board to the water. Since our combined body weight no more than equaled camps, The board floated the two of us. and we were able to tan the knee battle out to the point.
When a wave came, one of us would slip off the board and tread water. while the other surfed. We both sprang up and rowed the first waves we caught all the way to the shore. We were good athletes and have been body surfing, surf matting, and skateboarding for years. We were also a little bit nuts.
We had made a regular practice of attempting ever more radical maneuvers on a skateboard. Fletzy Flyer. Bicycle. Or pogo stick. We're in a soapbox racer.
We didn't know it at the time. But we were adrenaline junkies. Neither did we understand that we had joined a fraternity of surfers. Let's stretch back only 50 years in California.
Now, many decades later, and I haven't gained perspective. I understand how new the sport was at the time. California's first surfer was George Freeth. Born in Honolulu in 1883, He was part Hawaiian, part of Hawaii. On his mother's side, and all Irish on his father's side.
With blue eyes, wavy brown hair, chiseled features, and the physique of a Greek statue. He was a striking figure. He was also the principal figure. and the revival of surfing. in the Hawaiian Islands.
Once the sport of Hawaiian royalty, Surfing had all but disappeared in the islands by the turn of the 20th century. The few who served did so by lying prone on the board. and rowed the breaking wave straight into the beach. Frief not only began standing on the board, but also developed the art of turning the board. to slide down the wave and stay ahead of the break.
On a trip to Hawaii. Jack Lyndon saw free. Half a mile out, where the reef is, said London. The white-headed comers thrust suddenly skyward out of the placid turquoise blue. One after another they come, a mile long.
with smoking crests. the white battalions of the infinite army of the sea, And suddenly rising like a sea god, from out of the churning white. Pierre's a man. standing above them all, calm and superb, Here's a brown mercury. Riding the sea that roars and bellows and cannot shake him from its back.
Well, in nineteen seven, Friend was brought from the islands to California by Henry Huntington of the Pacific Electric Railway. A new line had just been opened from Los Angeles Torredondo Beach. And Huntington thought the surfing exhibition by Freith might be just the promotional tool. The railway needed to attract new riders.
Soon Angelinos. We're taking the train to Redondo. and watching from the beach as one newspaper reported, In awed amazement, witnessing the spectacle of a man standing on water.
Well, truth be told. Freeth was standing on an 8-foot, 125-pound redwood board. Um Free three million in California. working as a sports trainer and a lifeguard. becoming the first official lifeguard on the Pacific coast.
He invented their torpedo-shaped rescue buoy. that became standard issue for lifeguards the world over. and made a number of daring rescues. During a tremendous storm in December 1908, According to one newspaper report, Frieith made three freezing trips out through mountainous foaming seas. to rescue seven Japanese fishermen.
or being swept to certain death in their small fishing boats. The report urged slightly. It was one capsized boat and six fishermen. For his heroic action, Fried was awarded the United States Life-saving core. Gold medal.
The Japanese fishermen honored him by naming their small fishing village Freeth. which was located at the mouth of Potreiro Canyon. in Pacific Palisades. Freeth also introduced the game of water polo in California. and trained several champion swimmers and divers.
at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. Ironically, The Darian Waterman. died in bed at the age of thirty five. becoming just one more victim of the great influenza virus. of nineteen eighteen and nineteen nineteen.
Commonly called the Spanish flu. Surfboards remained unchanged. From Friends Day. until the late 1920s. When Tom Blake introduced several revolutionary innovations.
Born in Wisconsin in 1902, Blake rode the rails to California in 1919. arriving about the time Frief died. Already a terrific swimmer with a muscular build, Blake settled in Santa Monica and worked as a lifeguard. Swimming instructor. and stunt man for the movies.
He moved to Hawaii for a time. working with the Waikiki Beach Patrol. Blake fell out of favor with the Hawaiians. When he destroyed the field in the Alawai Canal paddleboard race, Blake credited his victory to his new Hollow paddleboard. that he had designed.
Instead of the typical solid wood board, Lake's was hollow. with thin sheets of plywood covering spars as in the wing of an airplane. The new creation weighed in at 75 pounds. a saviance of fifty pounds or more, over the older boards. Blake returned to California.
And they introduced his Hollow Hawaiian Surfboard. As he called it. At what was promoted as the first Pacific Coast Surfboard Championship. Held in August, 1928. At Corona Del Mar.
Although few waves of any size and quality, break there today. Because of the extension of the Newport Harbor jetty. Big Corona. was one of California's premier surf breaks. Blake's lighter, hollow board caught on quickly.
In 1935, he added a skag. A fin attached to the bottom of the board that allowed a surfer to track, turn, and pivot the board with much greater ease. And you've been listening to Roger McGrath tell the story. of surfing in the early and mid to early twentieth century. And there were two main people who helped make this happen.
One, George Frieth, and he was born in Hawaii, part Irish, part native Hawaiian, an athlete par excellence, and just built for surfing, a body for surfing, a figure and a sense of balance for surfing. And then, of course, there was the great Tom Blake. The surfboard innovator and created the hollow board, which created a lighter surfboard, and then, of course, adding that. in to the bottom of the board. For better control, we're learning about how this pastime is becoming more than a lifestyle.
It's becoming a sport. When we come back, more of the story of surfing. here on Our American Stories. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer. Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S.
and can become harder to treat if left undetected. That's why sun protection and timely detection matter. Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at let's get real about skincancer.com.
Okay, sis, give me the scoop. What have you been up to? Living my best life. I've been traveling, working, even hiking more, and thanks at Timo, well I'm connected for all of it. Really?
I need details. I mean, with America's best network, I can pretty much go anywhere. Even when I'm off-grid, I'm still connected by satellite. That's cool. Plus, I get unlimited texting and data abroad, so I'm all set for my trip to Greece.
I don't even need to do anything. It'll just work when I get there. That's it. I gotta get T-Mobile. I don't even get reception in my apartment.
This is why I'm mom's favorite.
So many reasons to join T-Mobile. Find yours at T-Mobile.com. Best mobile network in the US based on analysis by Uclub Speed Test Intelligence Data First Half of 2026. With compatible device in most outdoor areas and select countries where you can see the sky. Included with experience beyond or $10 a month, auto-renews monthly, cancel any time.
High-speed data on select plans not for extended international use coverage, not available in some areas. See plan for details. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way.
The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q.
This is Charlemagne the Garde from the World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club.
Now, imagine somebody buying a file on us. Our names, addresses, phone numbers, that's what data brokers do. They package our personal information and sell it, exposing us to identity thieves who can open loans, drain investment accounts, or commit crimes in our name. LifeLock's automatic data broker removal tool helps remove our exposed information from these sites. It's our Identity theft protection for the life you're building.
So get Life Lock at lifelock.com and use promo code BREAKFIST for up to 30% off your first year. That's Lifelock.com, code Breakfast. Because isn't your identity worth protecting? Professional wrestling fans, the action continues every week. Watch CNA Thursday Night Impact every week on AMC.
It is like electricity. Electricity blowing through Don't miss the adrenaline, the drama, and the total non-stop action. No one can ever be as good as this right here! Don't miss the action of TNA Thursday Night Impact every week on AM Singh. For showtimes and more information, visit TNAWrestling.com.
You're grinding, putting tracks on Spotify, making TikToks, and watching fractions of a cent roll in. Exposure doesn't pay rent. Time for real steaks. Welcome to The Beam, the new music competition app. Real fans vote.
Brands buy your music before it breaks. You win money and exposure. No more chasing algorithms. Just compete and get paid. Download the Beam at theBeam.com or on the App Store.
Submit your track. Earn what your music deserves on The Beam, the only chart that writes checks. Uh-huh. You've watched racing.
Now get behind the wheel. At Kaizen Autosport Racing School at VIR, professional race drivers teach you how to drive faster, safer, and with more confidence on one of America's legendary racetracks. Never driven on track? We'll get you started. Already experienced, we'll take you to the next level.
Ready to race? Earn your competition license and learn real wheel-to-wheel racecraft. Stop watching, start driving. Go to racevir.com. That's racevir.com.
And we continue with our American stories and with Roger McGrath telling the story of surfing. Let's pick up. where we last left off. With the introduction of Blake's new board, surfing grew rapidly during the 1930s. Promoters saw a chance to make money.
and a very mild and limited commercialization of the sport began.
Soon there is a state championship held at San Onofre. Pete Peterson of Santa Monica dominated the event. winning the championship four times. When the Japanese launched their sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, Throwing the United States into World War Two. Uncle Sam threw California surfers into the armed forces.
A state championship was cancelled for the duration of the war. Perfect glassy waves broke up and down the coast with very few to ride them. One of those who got to serve Malibu during the war was Joe Quigg. Born in nineteen twenty five in Los Angeles, Quigg grew up in Santa Monica, spending summers on the beach. He was awe struck by the surfing prowess of Pete Peterson, and he and wanted to be just like him.
By the time Quigg was thirteen, he was not only a good surfer, but had shaped his own surfboard out of a redwood plank. Quig was 16 and in high school when the Japanese sneak attack came.
so he was able to surf Malibu in 1942 and 1943. By 1944, he was in the Navy. but was able to come home on leave during that summer. Right after I got home, said Quick. I drove up to Malibu to surf.
And though the waves were good that day, There are only three guys out. One was a guy with a withered arm named Bob Simmons. And the other two were kids named Buzzy Trent and Matt Kivlin.
Well after the war Quigg began working for Tom Blake, shaping surfboards. and developing his own designs. Within a few years, Quig had developed a lighter, faster, and more maneuverable board Made of balsa wood. When other surfers saw the way Quig could snap the board through turns at Malibu, they lined up to order one from him. Quick called his new design the Malibu board.
Decades later, Quiggs Malibu Borg. would be called the first modern surfport. Uh The others who surfed with Quig at Malbu that summer day in 1944 also later contributed mightily to surfing history. Buzzy Trent would become a legendary big wave rider in Hawaii. Born Goodwin, Trent, in 1929, He acquired the nickname Buzzy while growing up in Santa Monica.
He delivered newspapers to earn money. to buy his first surfboard and spent his high school years surfing and playing football. Muscular, fast, and agile. He started running back. and was recruited to play at the University of Southern California.
Trent might have become known for his cutbacks on the gridiron. rather than on a wave, had he not broken his leg as a freshman. When he recovered, He not only dropped out of football, but also dropped out of FC. He was soon in Hawaii. where he became one of the pioneer big wave writers at Macaha.
and later on the North Shore. Because of his hard charging, fearless style, on big waves and his storytelling on the beach. He became a crowd favorite. in the early surfing movies. Born in Texas in 1929, Matt Givlin was a direct descendant of Irish immigrants who developed the San Patricio colony in Texas, during the eighteen thirties and forties.
and sent men to defend the outlaw. Kivlin's family moved to West Los Angeles when he was a little kid. He spent his summers on the beach and began surfing at a young age. He grew to six foot three inch. unusually tall for a surfer.
But He was agile and quick on the surfboard. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, He was one of the best at Malibu. Kivlin also designed and shaped surfboards with Tom Blake and Joe Quig. Contributing to Quidd's Malibu board. By the mid-50s, except for an occasional go-out, Kivlin has let surfing behind.
and dedicated himself to architecture. He became an acclaimed architect. and during his career designed some 200 homes. in Santa Monica, Prentwood, Pacific Palisades, and Malibu. The third guy.
Joe Quigg reported surfing at Malibu that summer day in 1944. Who's Bob Simmons? Quigg mentioned Simmons having a withered arm. It was actually a badly broken arm that never healed correctly. Simmons would later contribute to Naomi's surfboard design.
but to the foam revolution of the nineteen fifties. Simmons was born in Los Angeles in 1919. and almost lost his life in his early teens to a cancerous tumor in his leg. A surgeon removed the tumor before the cancer spread. and Simmons rode a bicycle regularly to rehabilitate the leg.
While riding the bike, he was hit by a car. and his arm badly broken. To rehabilitate the arm, He began paddling a surfboard. and learn to serve. Surfers called Simmons the mad scientist.
He was always always seemed to be experimenting with something. He took classes at Caltech. to learn everything he could about aerodynamics and hydrodynamics. His sidekick was a muscular and tough as nails. Buzzy Trent.
Simmons and Trent were the original odd couple. said Dave Rockland. A Santa Monica surfer? In World War II Marine. Together, they were a real pair.
like the mad scientists. and his big burly sidekick, Igor.
Well, during the late 1940s. Most surfboard makers began to use balsa wood imported from South America for surfboards. The word was white. can be shaped with saws and sanders. and can be covered with fiberglass for protection.
Because balsa wood came from South America and was fairly expensive, Simmons began look. and materials developed during the war, especially styrofoam. It was easy to shape, very light and cheap. When you try to fiberglass styrofoam, He learned that the catalyzed resin dissolved the foam. In response, he developed his sandwich board.
By covering the styrofoam with two thin sheets of plywood, using bulks of wood for the rails. and then fiberglassing the whole thing. Simmons' new sandwich board worked so well He soon had dozens of orders and opened a shop in Santa Monica. with Joe Quigg and Matt Kivlin working for him. Simmons turned out hundreds of boards.
Both sandwich style. He and Mosser Wood. Despite his partially crippled arm, Simmons was continually testing his boards. On a big September day in nineteen fifty four, He was out at Winden Sea, La Jolla's best surfing spot. Surfers remembered.
seeing him riding some big waves that day. But no one remembered seeing him come in. Three days later, his body washed up on the beach. the mad scientist was thirty five years old. The same age as George Freeth when he died.
Simmons did not live quite long enough to see the development of a foam. that could withstand catalyzed resin. That development Would usher in. The golden age of surfing. And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Greg Hengler.
And a special thanks to Roger McGrath. And he's the author of Gunfighters, Highwaymen, and Vigilantes: Violence on the Frontier. And he's been a frequent contributor here on Our American Stories. And this one, pioneers of surfing. It's just so good.
And you could hear McGrath's passion for this. It's a lifestyle. many Hoopserf would agree. Though you learn a bit about how it got turned into a sport through championships and competition to bring more folks to it. Those early pioneers, the Frieds, the Quigs, they helped innovate not just on the athletic front and performance front, but also on the technology front, developing the better and sleeker and better performing boards.
The pioneers of surfing. Their story here on Our American Stories. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer. Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected.
That's why sun protection and timely detection matter. Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at Let's Get RealaboutskinCancer.com. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years.
And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q.
That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. Professional wrestling fans, the action continues every week. Watch CNA Thursday Night Impact every week on AMC. It is like a Electricity blowing through your face. Don't miss the adrenaline, the drama, and the total non-stop action.
No one can ever be as good as this right here! Don't miss the action of TNA Thursday Night Impact every week on AM SIG. For show types and more information, visit TNAWrestling.com. Love discovering new music before anyone else? Stop being just a listener.
Start making the rules and work with your new favorite artist before they even break. The Beam is a free music competition app where real emerging artists compete, you vote, and massive brands step in to fund the next big name. Your votes change careers. Find them first. Download TheBeam at thebeam.com or on the App Store.
Vote for an artist you love or discover your next obsession. It's the first music chart that A's artists. There's saving for retirement and then there's living in it. At Fidelity, we can help you make that transition and plan for whatever comes next. With a free personalized income plan, you can view and manage your cash flow across accounts.
Plus, you'll get investing insights to help you make your savings last. Ready to take on retirement? Get started at fidelity.com slash income planning. Expenses charged by your investments and other costs and fees associated with trading or transacting in your account apply. Fidelity Brokerage Services member NYSE SIPC.
You've watched racing.
Now get behind the wheel. At Kaizen Autosport Racing School at VIR, professional race drivers teach you how to drive faster, safer, and with more confidence on one of America's legendary racetracks. Never driven on track? We'll get you started. Already experienced, we'll take you to the next level.
Ready to race? Earn your competition license and learn real wheel-to-wheel racecraft. Stop watching, start driving. Go to racevir.com. That's racevir.com.
This is the Dan Lebatar Show. This is Dan Lebatar, and I've been doing this for more than two decades. Our show is contagious. It's a little bit addictive. It's uh.
How are you? In the most positive of ways. It has a good amount of range from smart to silly, and it's got a journalistic backbone. Monday through Friday, I show up and talk about sports, listen to the Dan Lebetard show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever it is that you get your podcasts. Mm-hmm.
