Hermosa Beach’s Greg ‘Da Bull’ Noll was a no bull guy
by Mike Purpus When I was a 12 year old surf grom my friends and I hung out at The Greg Noll shop after school and passed around “The Thumb.” It was a human thumb in a block of resin sitting next to the cash register. We didn’t know who’s thumb it was or where it came from. The people that worked at the shop refused to talk about it but they let us pass it around for 30 minutes and then kicked us out of the shop. When I was 18, I got my own Jacobs Surfboard Mike Purpus Model. Hap Jacobs had Ricky James shape my boards. He was missing his thumb. I asked Ricky what happened to his thumb. He refused to say anything about it and got mad when I asked. A few months went by and I finally got Ricky to tell me what happened to his thumb. Ricky used to shape for Greg Noll, making The Mickey Dora Da Cat Model. One Friday morning Mickey came by the Noll Factory to have Ricky shape him a new surfboard. They finished around lunch. Greg went to the store to get the usual Friday beer keg and the rest of the guys had gone to lunch. Mickey wanted a special fin for his new surfboard. When Ricky was cutting it out on the bandsaw his hand slipped and he severed the thumb. Ricky was in shock with blood…
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