Patrick McNulty's feature story on Marge Calhoun was published in papers across America in March and April 1959, usually under the headline "Champion Woman Surfboard Rider Says it's a Great Weight Reducer."

Marge Calhoun is a honey blonde with four loves: her husband, two daughters and a 10-foot surfboard. Here is Marge's usual day after daddy's off to work and the kids to school:

Marge loads her balsa surfboard into the family station wagon and—winter or summer—drives to nearby Malibu Cove. There, if the waves are right, she spends the day riding the Pacific combers with other surfing enthusiasts.

Is she any good? Marge is the world champ.

In Hawaii last November, Marge won the International Surfing Championship for women. And she did it on a day when the waves at Makaha beach were curling large enough to scare husky men shoreward.

Marge spent a month in the Islands while husband Tom stayed home with his contracting business and their two daughters. On a thrifty budget, Marge and a surfing girlfriend, Eve Fletcher of Burbank, California, rented an old pickup truck for $80. The truck was their hotel and transportation. Each day Marge and Eve would drive around the island of Oahu looking for the best waves. They would bed down in the truck wherever sunset found them—Makaha, Haleiwa, or perhaps even Waikiki.

Marge won the international when the waves at Makaha were 12-feet high. A few days later, she tackled 18-footers. No place for a woman, but Marge rode the giant combers that gave many of Hawaii’s best a good excuse to watch from the beach.

A false step on a wave that size can topple rider and board into a Niagara-like maelstrom. One surfer said it's like a mouse tumbling in an automatic washing machine.

Marge had a good scare. A collision with another board sent her rolling down the face of a booming breaker. Her board slammed into coral 30 feet under. Marge, too, hit bottom and the churning wave held her there a good minute. She admitted seeing stars before eventually floating to the surface. A few moments later, she was riding an equally scary breaker.

Already an expert springboard diver and skier when she took up surfing four years ago, Marge improved quickly. She has this tip for women: surfing is great for reducing. Statuesque well-tanned Marge lost 15 pounds and 2 inches from her waist after a few months. Today 5-foot-8 Marge has no problem keeping her weight at 135 pounds.

Marge’s daughters—Candy 15, and Robin, 12—love the water, too. So does husband Tom, but he likes skin diving better than surfing. The Calhouns live in a modernistic house built by Tom a few hundred yards from the ocean. So there’s no problem getting to the beach.

Marge would like all the Calhouns on hand when she defends her championship next year in Hawaii. But Tom’s business and the girls' schooling make it difficult for them to get away. "But it would be nice to have a rooting section," says Marge.

SURFING "IS A GREAT WEIGHT REDUCER" - MARGE CALHOUN NEWSPAPER PROFILE (1959)

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