Making a living on the sand

Barbara Diamond

Surfing and surfing industry pioneer Dick Metz drafted Laguna

Beach business man Bill Blackburn, publisher Steve Pezman and

restaurateur Bob Mardian to create the Surfing Heritage Foundation

here.

Blackburn began surfing at San Onofre in 1950 with his father,

three brothers and a sister. With his son and three grandchildren,

that makes four generations of Blackburns that surf.

A Stanford University graduate in 1965 with a degree in business,

the Pasadena native went to work for Dean Witter until 1973. He left

the brokerage to join the family company in Oceanside in 1973 and

moved to Laguna Beach where he and his wife, Kathleen, live in Three

Arch Bay.

Blackburn purchased Hobie Sunglasses in 1989 from legendary Laguna

surfboard maker Hobie Alter at the instigation of Metz.

“I was on the way to the airport when Dick told me Hobie was

selling the company,” Blackburn said. “I said, ‘That’s crazy. They

are the best sunglasses I have ever owned.’”

He owned the company until 1996. His wife, Kathleen Blackburn,

served as controller of the business until she was elected mayor by

her fellow City Council members.

“I am sorry now that I ever sold it,” Blackburn said.

However, it does free up time to spend surfing at San Onofre,

Church or Doheny or skiing in Idaho or Sun Valley.

Pezman began surfing in 1957 in Orange County. He spent the

1962-63 winter in Hawaii, rode the North Shore, then returned to

California to shape surfboards and become the co-owner of Creative

Design Surfboards in Huntington Beach.

In 1967, Pezman began freelance writing for surfing magazines. He

became the editor of Surfer in 1970 and later publisher, a position

he held until 1991. He currently publishes the Surfer’s Journal,

which he co-founded, and surfing books with his wife, Debbee. He is

the executive producer of “Surfer’s Journal” on Outdoor Life Network.

Pezman serves on the advisory boards of the United States Surfing

Federation, the Surfrider Foundation and the Surf Industry

Manufacturers Association.

Mardian also graduated from Stanford University and then earned a

master’s degree in business administration from Pepperdine

University. He operates restaurants in Hawaii, Texas and California,

specifically Dana Point, has surfed the coast of all three states and

finished in the top 30 of the Ironman World Championships in Kona.

A member of the San Onofre Surfing Club since 1954, Mardian is part of generational surfing sandwich, between his father and his

children.

Mardian served on the 1988 U. S. Olympics Finance Committee. He is

listed in “Who’s Who in America” and is a former member of the Young

Presidents Organization.

Hobie Alter serves on the Surfing Heritage Foundation’s advisory

board, along with Greg Noll, Bing Copeland, Don Hansen, Bruce Brown,

Reynolds “Renny” Yater, Spencer Croul, Mickey Munoz, Dale Velzy,

Flippy Hoffman, Walter Hoffman and Dan Pincetich.