Mary Ann Hawkins

Mary Ann Hawkins was an American surfer, paddleboarder, swimmer and Hollywood stunt woman, born in Pasadena on March 7, 1919, who died of cancer in Tucson, Arizona, on January 28, 1993. Inspired by a Duke Kahanamoku swimming exhibition around the age of ten, she trained as a swimmer, won the National Junior Championship in the 880-yard freestyle in 1933 and became the Amateur Athletic Union 500-meter freestyle champion in 1936. After her family moved to Costa Mesa in 1934 she learned to bodysurf and surf and fell so much in love with it that she never again swam her best. She was the lone female entrant in the 1939 Catalina-to-Hermosa Beach aquaplane race, finishing 14th, worked as a movie stunt double, performed at hotels in Hawaii and spent thirty years teaching very young children to swim.