Mike Purpus

Surfer Mike Purpus was born in 1948 in Santa Monica, California. Raised in Hermosa Beach, California, Purpus started surfing at age ten. Mike placed fourth in the juniors division in the 1965 United States Surfing Championships; he went on to finish sixth in the men's division of this same contest in 1967, fifth in 1968, third in both 1969 and 1970, and sixth again in both 1972 and 1975. Moreover, Mike won both the kneeboarding and longboarding divisions of the 1975 United States Surfing Championships, won the small wave event in the 1970 Peru International Championships, placed second in the 1972 Makaha International Championships, and competed in the World Surfing Championships in 1968, 1970, and 1972. In addition, Purpus was also a five-time invitee to the Duke Kahanamoku Invitational annual surfing meet as well as a finalist in the 1972 Hang Ten American Pro contest. Mike posed for a nude Playgirl magazine pictorial in 1974, made three appearances on The Dating Game (1965), and, beginning in 1974, has written a column on surfing for the weekly regional newspaper Easy Reader.