From 1976 to 1986, I worked as advertising director of SURFER magazine. During that period I was lucky to have hired a young, extremely bright-eyed and bushy-tailed graphic designer named Mark Samuels.
I immediately nicknamed him “Cubby,” there was no other choice. The dude was the perfect “Cubby” (after Cubby O’Brien, an original of “The Mickey Mouse Club). Some Mouseketeers ears were all that were missing.
The kid turned out to be a great asset to the department and would become a lifetime friend. Along with being a super talented graphic designer – he went on to own SDA CREATIVE in Laguna Hills – Cubby was also a stoked young surfer.
The following is a great story on how he came across a classic vintage surfboard while surfing with his buddy Dave Nelson and pulled off one of the all time, “let’s hold onto this and one day it will be worth something” deals. Here is the story in his own words:
“The year is 1973 and we’d just graduated from high school, and we were milking the last surfing summer of our youth. Driving home on PCH, we noticed a garage sale sign. Dave and I weren’t exactly rolling in dough, but decided to swing by and maybe find a deal. Little did we know.
When we pulled up, I saw an odd little twin-fin leaning against the guy’s house. The board was a tad over 5-feet and appeared to be balsa. It didn’t have any logos or graphics, just a very small, stamped, name near the tail: Al Nelson – La Jolla. I thought it was cool, so I asked the old guy what he wanted for it. With a cigarette hanging out of his mouth he said, ‘It’s yours for $14.’ That sounded fair to me, but all I had that day was seven bucks. So, I hit up Dave for the other seven. He eyed the board carefully and said, ‘OK, maybe we can make a table out of it.’
I explained to Dave that if this board did have any value, pounding legs into it would ruin it for sure. I promised him that I would put the board in the rafters of my…
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