Riding a lifelong wave

Chris Yemma

A question: When is a sport not a sport?

The answer: When it’s a lifestyle.

“I’m a little hesitant to call it a sport,” 62-year-old Costa Mesa

resident Mike Marshall said. “It’s more of a fraternal thing. It’s

because it’s a subculture, a lifestyle. As far as connections, it

becomes heavy, socially.”

If you haven’t guessed it yet, Marshall is talking about surfing.

Ah yes, surfing, the subculture that seeks the perfect wave, that

strives for the perfect glassy-surfaced barrel to ride indefinitely.

Marshall has lived that lifestyle for pretty much the full 62

years of his life. Starting when he was a child when his parents had

a summer beach house in Newport Beach, until now, actually living on

the border of Costa Mesa and Newport, Marshall has always

incorporated surfing into his lifestyle, in one form or another.

Now, though, as he grows older, Marshall is a little more

selective when it comes to paddling out.

“Back then I surfed every day,” he said, referring to his days at

Newport Harbor High. “It was almost part of a religious experience to

go out there. The ocean was the church and I would go as often as I

could.”

He still has the same attitude, but the “church” has to have the

sun shining down on it, and the water has to be a little warmer.

Still, despite less time in the water, many locals refer to Marshall

as a Newport surf icon.

That’s probably because he has been doing it since Newport was a

newborn back in 1956.

“When I started it was a very small community,” he said. “I knew

pretty much everyone on the highway. It went to millions [of people]

today but now the world is a very small surfing community.”

During his Newport Harbor days, Marshall was totally engulfed in

the surfing lifestyle. He said it took him all he had to finish high

school. But he also learned a very valuable lesson from a teacher.

Ted Newland, now UC Irvine men’s water polo coach, was like a

father figure to Marshall back then.

“He took a liking to me,” Marshall said. “He was a strong

disciplinarian, which was what I needed. He told me I was just going

to be a surf bum, and now here I am retired after 32 years of

education.”

Marshall eventually went into teaching to survive in the “real

world,” after some influence from Newland. Teaching, of course,

provided him with the perfect vacation time -- summers off, along

with all the rest of the holidays.

Six months ago, Marshall retired after teaching for 32 years at

Nicolas Junior High in Fullerton. He’s still very much active in the

surfing lifestyle, and still has numerous acquaintances from the

culture, young and old.

In fact, everyone who he surrounds himself with, he says, he

knows, one way or another, through surfing.

Now he dabbles in surfboard shaping, even starting his own label.

But he does it strictly for therapeutic reasons, and only for close

friends and their kids. Though, it hasn’t quite made it to the

grandkids stage yet, he said.

Now that he’s retired, he plans to explore some surfing spots he

has never been to.

“I want to go to New Zealand,” he said. “I want to go to the

southern hemisphere, maybe like Chile.”

But no matter what, Marshall insists surfing is not a sport.

Through his life, it’s easy to see that it’s actually a lifestyle.