Lonnie Argabright

Lonnie Argabright

Lonnie started surfing in 1956 when he & Jeff Hackman started pushing each other into the white water at Torrance Beach.  In 1959, when Dewey Weber was a salesman for Velzy/Jacobs in Venice, CA. he sold Lonnie his first new board. His first pair of custom surf trunks were made by Dewey’s mom Gladys, who was known to us all as Momma Weber.  The trunks were also “Murphy’s” trade mark. In 1960 a group from Torrance Beach, that included Lonnie, founded the Haggerty’s Surfing Club.  At the time, he was the youngest and smallest member.  In 1961, he was the model for Rick Griffins famous Surfer Magazine cartoon character “Murphy”, and by 1964, Lonnie was riding for Jacobs.  He made the decision to serve is country in 1965 as he entered the Navy for the next 4 years, and by ‘67, Lonnie had given up on surfing which would last for the next 10 years.  But in 1977, a friend sold him his 10 ft Weber Professional for $25, and it was just the thing to get him back in the water that summer in 1977. He started hanging around Dewey’s shop in Hermosa, and in 1979 Caroline and Dewey asked him to join their Team.  They wanted Lonnie to help them put together a longboard team and be its Captain. For the next 2 years he & his great friend, Peff Eick, would put a bug in Caroline’s and Dewey’s ear to have a Longboard Contest, and in 1981 the Peff Eick/Dewey Weber Longboard Invitational was born. The contest was a huge success and Dewey ended up have 5 more. In 1983, Lonnie left the Weber Team and rode for several other shops over the years.  But in 2013, while at the Dewey Weber shop in San Clemente talking with Shea Weber, Lonnie rejoined the Weber Team after being gone for 30 years.   This felt like a coming home to him.  Out of the hundreds of contests that Lonnie has participated in throughout his surfing life, he notes that the 1^st Dewey Weber Longboard Classic in 1981 was the most memorable.


http://www.deweyweber.com/lonnie-argabright/