WEBVTT - Tony Hawk 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:08.080 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to the Bob Left Sets podcast. My 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:12.319 guest this week is skateboarder Extraordinary, one of the most 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:17.400 famous and successful athletes in the world, Tony Hawk. Hello, Hello, 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:19.040 thanks for having me. Good to have your Tony. I'm 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:21.759 gonna jump right in. Okay, did you first jump on 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:26.200 a skateboard? I was about nine years old, was when 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:30.640 the skating craze of the seventies was was in its peak, basically, 0:00:31.160 --> 0:00:34.120 and my older brother was a surfer and he started 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:38.360 skating as a natural progression. Um he was skating and 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:40.200 I just picked up his old board and I said, 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:41.680 how do I do this thing? And he said, you know, 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.000 just stand on and go and I I got on 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:46.080 it and I rode to the end of the driveway 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:48.120 and slammed into the fence because I couldn't figure how 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:50.599 to turn. Well, it's funny, I have almost an identical 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:53.520 story because skateboarding was a big thing in the sixties. 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:56.480 Even Jan and Dean had a song called Sidewalk Surfing, 0:00:56.840 --> 0:00:59.880 which was a remake of Surf City and with we 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:02.440 had the metal wheels. You had the metal wheels and 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:06.240 you had the clay wheels. And I was in Mammoth Mountain, 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:08.080 this type, the same type. I was there for the 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:12.399 month of May, and you know Mammoth the main lodge, 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:15.640 the gigantic parking lot. Okay, so the guy gives me 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:17.920 a board with the new wheels, and I go, and 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:19.920 then suddenly I realized, for those people don't know, it's 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:23.440 slowly downhill and it's an eight thousand, almost nine thousand feet. 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:25.840 It was a holy crap, I'm gonna have to walk back. 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:29.360 And I hadn't been on a skateboard in about nine 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:33.080 or ten years. And I stepped off the board. Wow, 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:35.080 because you know, I was smart after us, you have 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:36.960 to run off the board. So you just you did. 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:39.480 We call that a Mr Wilson. I believe I had. 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:42.520 The only good thing is I'd come from skiing and 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:45.800 I had, you know, multiple layers of clothing on ripped 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:49.560 right through my turtleneck, my ski pants, my long underwear 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:54.120 got road rash. Wow. That was my reintroduction of the seventies. Okay, 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:56.240 So you're you have an older brother. How many kids 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:59.200 in your family? For we have two older sisters as 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:01.880 well and young and you're the youngest by a lot. 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:04.480 My my older brothers thirteen years older than me. Your 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:07.640 older brothers thirteen years and how much older your sisters 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:12.440 eighteen and you'll have the same parents. Yes, so I was. 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:16.040 I was very much a surprise and accident. My mom 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:18.880 was forty three at the time. So you essentially grew 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:22.320 up as almost as an only child with your parents. Wow. 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:25.360 So where you know a lot of times when you're 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:27.720 the baby of the family, your parents are lenient. They 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:30.800 let you do whatever you want. Uh. That definitely that 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:33.639 was the case. I think also my they had been 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:36.880 through a lot of a lot of scenarios with my 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:40.760 a lot of challenging situations with my siblings as well, 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:43.360 just because it was the seventies. You know, they were 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:47.120 experimenting and my my sister got into music, my brother 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:51.080 got into surfing, and they fully supported them in those endeavors, 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:53.360 but you know, it just jumped them out on their 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:55.280 comfort zone very much. So once I came along, it 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:57.480 was like, what just keep him happy, whatever he's doing, 0:02:57.560 --> 0:02:59.480 let him do it. And what did your father do 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:01.640 for a living? Uh? He well, he was a Navy 0:03:01.680 --> 0:03:04.520 pilot World War two really and then uh and then 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:07.200 he sold Um. He kind of got into it through 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:10.880 my sister. He started selling musical instruments UM wholesale in 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:15.080 San Diego just as a hobby because their band needed 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:17.959 gear UM. And then he got into it and he 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:20.880 made connections and he did that till you retired. Really, 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:23.959 so part of the whole NAM world, etcetera. Yeah, I 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:25.800 used to go to NAM when I was when I 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:28.800 was like eight nine years old. For those people don't know, 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:32.320 you know, it's the Music Merchant Show. It's one of 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:35.280 the biggest shows in the ammah Anaheim. Happens in January. 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:37.120 It's a private show, but really, if you know, anybody 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:39.520 can get in, right. But I just went because like 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:41.280 I didn't, you know, my mom be out of town 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:42.680 and so my dad would have to take me and 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:45.600 I just his booth or go. You're just plowing my 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:47.920 mind because you know, this is my girlfriend's world. My 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:51.800 girlfriend runs a foundation called the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:56.480 which they give instruments to underprivileged schools. So why don't 0:03:56.480 --> 0:03:58.440 you start talking. I know all these people through her 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:00.640 that I wouldn't know otherwise. Is I got a NAM 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:02.960 with her? So I didn't realize your father's soul music. 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:05.040 Well it was, I mean it was a pretty it 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:07.920 was relatively small business in San Diego. But but it 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:09.960 was cool. I that's how I started. I started playing 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:12.320 violent actually at that time. Really okay, but just stay 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:15.040 with your father. So he's a navy pilot. When they 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:17.440 have the right stuff, the movie, the book, whatever, does 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:21.600 he start telling stories about that stuff? He Uh, that's 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:25.520 a good question. I don't think he didn't feel I 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:28.400 don't want to say proud, but you know, his valor 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:30.599 wasn't that he really wanted to brag about it. I 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:33.080 think he he didn't like a lot of stuff he 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:35.600 had to do in World War Two, especially, so he 0:04:35.640 --> 0:04:38.320 was pretty mom about all of it. You know. It's 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:40.839 also he was definitely through, you know, running bombing missions, 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:45.200 you know, with with propeller planes off of aircraft carriers, 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:47.200 like it was the real deal. Wow, that really is 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:49.320 the real deal. But my father was not in the military. 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:51.800 He was the sole support for his mother. But it 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:54.320 was you know, my father would so internalize. It wasn't 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:56.560 until he was like in his fifties, remember writing this, 0:04:57.000 --> 0:04:58.440 Have you ever been asked for highlands? He used to 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:00.920 have this cheerlift that took a half an hour. And 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:03.320 my father also started telling stories about his youth. I'd 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:05.960 never heard. I never got into that. I think I 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:08.200 think a lot of it was he was he was ashamed. 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:10.039 He didn't you know, he didn't like there there was 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:12.159 I remember a time someone was talking about some area, 0:05:12.520 --> 0:05:16.080 some remote area and near Okinawa, Japan or something, and 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:18.120 and they said, have you ever been there in that area? 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:22.240 And my dad said, bombed it? You know, like but 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:23.640 like it was kind of a joke, but you could 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:27.360 tell there was a very it was very weighted, right. Okay, 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:30.480 so you're nine years old and you pick up your 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:33.440 brother's skateboard, you skate, and you crash into the fence 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:35.720 at the end of the road, and then you think 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:39.080 there was no epiphany. Um, I thought, you know, I 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:40.960 thought it was fun. A lot of my friends had 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:44.880 started doing it around that time, so I joined them. 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:46.960 It was more like it was a social thing, and 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:49.719 we would go skate around the different driveways. You know, 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:52.720 we had these alleyways, um, and we would go skate 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:54.360 around them. And then every once while someone would build 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:57.080 a little a little wooden ramp, and so their their 0:05:57.160 --> 0:06:00.040 place was the place for a couple of weeks, you know, 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:04.080 their right their driveway with their little ramp, and then uh, 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:07.640 eventually I got invited to go to the local skate 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:10.360 park which was in San Diego, UM called Oasis. And 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:13.280 how far is that from your house? Uh? Like twenty minutes. 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:17.359 It was right by the the stadium where the Chargers played, 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:22.799 actually where the Padres played, UM, and so I went there. 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:25.760 And when I went there, that's when I had my 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:29.360 wow moment. I saw I literally saw people flying around. 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:33.039 I saw these guys. Okay, so was it more seeing 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:34.760 what was going on? He was seeing what was going 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:37.240 on in the terrain, because suddenly it was like, we're 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:39.480 not just skating on the sidewalk. These are you know, 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:43.400 empty swimming pools that have this potential to throw you 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:45.720 in the air. And I saw that, I saw these 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:47.360 guys flying around. I was like, I want to do that. 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:49.159 I want to do that at any cost. That was 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:52.839 that was my moment for sure. And I mean, that's 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:56.080 really enough. But any other thoughts, like you know, I 0:06:56.160 --> 0:07:00.640 might get hurt, or this might be fun or thrilling, thrilling, 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:03.360 I mean that that was the motivation for sure. And 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:05.840 like I said, it was they were flying. I wanted 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:08.200 to fly, and and everything that I had done leading 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:09.760 up to that I had played a lot of sports. 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:13.520 I was always frustrated that I wasn't bigger, and you 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:16.000 know I was, you know, I was. I was a 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:18.880 run I was like I was a little scrawny dude, 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:21.480 you know. And I used to get mistaken from way 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:23.400 younger than I was all the time back then, And 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:25.960 so I would play sports, and you know I was. 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:28.160 I was a good basketball player, especially from my size, 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:30.400 but everyone else was taller and they just had an advantage. 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:33.560 And like I was a decent baseball player, but it was, 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:35.200 you know, there was just more. I didn't have the 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:42.119 strength of the weight, and skateboarding unknowingly leveled that playing 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:44.600 field for me because I figured out this way to 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:48.560 propel my what my limited weight into the air and 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:50.960 that generally wasn't the way people could do it. And 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:53.320 I was pretty fearless. I didn't I didn't mind getting 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:56.280 hurt for the sake of learning. That was never my issue. 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:57.920 And a lot of my friends would get hurt and 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:00.360 they were over it. They're done. Okay, So how old 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:02.480 are you? Literally, when you go to the skatepark ten 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:04.920 years old, you're ten years old. It's twenty minutes away. 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:07.400 How do you get there, I would get a ride 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:11.080 with friends. Um, sometimes my dad would take me and 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:13.840 my brother was in college at the time. We had 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:15.840 one day a week that he would dry. He was 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:19.400 in um, Northern San Diego he or no, was he? Yeah, 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:22.480 Northern San Diego. He would drive down and take me 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:23.800 to skate park once a week and we would go 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:27.800 skate together. Okay, So, so when you're ten years old, 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:29.920 how many times a week are going to the skate park? 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:33.520 Probably too okay? And did they charge you to go 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:36.440 to the skate park? They did? Yeah, it was. It 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:40.320 was nominal, but it wasn't easy. Like my we were 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:45.440 middle class ish, um, so it was you know, it was. 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.280 It wasn't that I was getting a free ride, Definitely, 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:51.240 there was. I had a paper route and I had 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:53.040 to earn it. I had I remember earning money for 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:57.720 to buy stickers. The buy stickers. Wow, what stickers did 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:02.720 you buy? Going trucks? Okay, so you're going twice a 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:04.560 week to the skate park when you're not, are you 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:07.400 skating in the neighborhood? Yes? Yeah, so you're pretty much 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:12.920 skating every day. Yeah. I mean street skating as a 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:15.760 as an actual thing was not considered so it was 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:19.480 just more transportation at the time. Sometimes we'd find say 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:21.920 a curb in front of the dentist office that was 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:24.640 that was red and you could grind it and um 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:26.680 or a little banks like there there was a little 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:29.040 curb right in front of my middle school that you 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:30.880 could slide and we used to slide it in the 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:35.520 morning until we started breaking the sprinklers. And then because 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:37.520 this was also the era, you know, they started to 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:41.439 be a backlash against the noise and the grinding, etcetera. 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:43.880 It was a little bit before that. I mean, the 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:47.280 skating still was largely contained at the skate parks because 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:51.360 there was an abundance of skateparks then. But as that 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:54.960 started drying up, mostly because of liability and the interest 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:58.199 of skating was waning. Um, that's when it started becoming 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:01.440 this this thing that was like, wait a second, there's 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:03.880 no more facilities for us to go to. We're taken 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:08.640 to the streets. And that's when the stigma changed to 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:12.000 where these guys are a nuisance, they're breaking property, there outlaws, 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:14.199 like we're just looking for a place to do it. Okay, 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:17.600 going to a parallel thing. Whenever you do any research 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:21.120 on you it goes on about schooling and being tested 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:23.720 and having an I I high i Q. So what 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:28.640 was your educational experience, Like, Um, I was always putting 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:33.160 advanced classes and uh yeah, I mean I did have 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:36.400 this high i Q testing and whatnot, and that follows 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:40.079 me to this day, right, But I was I really 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:43.120 did enjoy this daredevil thing. And you know, I was 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:44.679 the little kid that would go off the high dive 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:46.840 and stuff like that. So so even before you were 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:50.080 a skateboarder. Yeah, yeah, yeah, um, and I wasn't. I 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:51.640 wasn't Like I said, I wasn't really afraid to get 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:54.480 hurt in the process. So I was so focused on that. 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:56.240 But but at the same time I was I was 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:58.920 keeping up with my schoolwork. I guess the thing that 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:03.080 sort of redirected my education was that I got successful 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:06.200 in high school. I started making really good money in 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:09.080 high school, especially around my junior year, to the point 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:12.000 where I was looking around on everyone's trying to figure 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:13.600 out what they're gonna be for living. I have a living, 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:17.320 you know, And especially my senior year, I was literally 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:20.559 making more money than my teachers. I bought a house 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:23.800 while I was still a senior in high school and 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:26.600 so it was kind of like there were all these 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:28.840 signs that just said you have you know, you're you're 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:31.959 already doing something. You have a career, and my parents 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:34.199 were worried that it was short lived, which they were 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:39.040 absolutely right to um, and so they they encouraged me 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:43.079 to maybe take some college courses, you know, on the side, 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:47.199 or at a community college. That I went to a college, 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:49.040 and I looked at the kind of curriculum that I 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:50.679 would have and I said, Mom, if I do this, 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:52.760 I won't be able to go to these events, like 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:55.640 these competitions on the weekend, which is what's fueling my career. 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:59.240 Because back in those days, the only thing people cared 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:02.560 about was your titian record, and if you weren't able 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:04.600 to go to those, forget it. You're not making living 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:06.680 as a skater. You're not getting magazine coverage and not 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:10.880 giving you professional skateboard models. Okay, let's go back. So 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:14.480 you're starting ten, your tens, that's the middle seventies. And 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:17.120 then you say, because of liability of the skateboards, parks 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:21.600 died out. Yes, okay, I'd say like around eighty three ish. Okay, 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:25.680 to what degree is their infrastructure that point in terms 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:29.680 of skate shop, skate magazines, etcetera. Well at all. There 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:33.319 was sort of a reorganization then, so everything everything collapsed 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:36.400 from the inside out. For the most part. On that 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:39.360 skate brands were just going up, you know, they were 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:41.439 all going on a business. My my sponsors. So my 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:45.880 my first sponsor was Dogtown Skateboards. I would go there 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:49.199 would manufacturer was in San Diego. At one point they 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:51.000 just said, oh, if you need skateboards, just go to 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:54.400 the wood pressing and go get your own. Like, these 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:56.439 are skateboards that are no have no graphics on them, 0:12:56.440 --> 0:13:00.320 having a label on them, but they're Dogtown skateboards. So 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:02.640 I was getting those and putting Dogtown stickers on them. 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:05.480 And then sometime around that I stopped hearing from them. 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:07.719 And then I got a call from Stacy Pelta, who 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:10.800 was widely regarded as the one of the most legendary 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:13.280 pro skaters but also um a curator one of the 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:17.280 best teams, and he called me and said, uh, hey, 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:20.480 I heard Dogtown went out of business. I felt I 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:23.160 wouldn't have known. This is the same dog Town in 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:25.760 Santa Monica that they made the movie about it. Yeah, 0:13:25.800 --> 0:13:27.400 So I was on the very tail end of that 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:31.000 as a young gramin amateur. So but but that's that's 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:33.120 just an example of one of the business like that. 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:36.080 Literally the company involved with there was there was one 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:42.960 skateboard magazine, skateboarder, skateboarder magazine that transformed into they called 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:46.280 Action Now and then it covered like motocross and snowboarding, 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:48.200 and it was kind of ahead of its time because 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:51.120 they're those were all fringe sports. They weren't even labeled 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:54.280 extreme yet, and so they called it Action Now and 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:56.200 that was the only skate magazine. Then Action Now went 0:13:56.240 --> 0:13:58.840 on the business. Then there was no skate magazine were 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:02.079 and we're putting this about a D three eight two 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:06.880 eighty three, and then Thrasher started. Okay, a couple how 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:10.880 old your fourteen? And then what can you tell us 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:14.080 about Thrasher starting? Because you know all these people, uh 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:16.559 it was it's Thrasher started. It was it was a 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:22.560 newspaper print skate magazine. Um, and we're just excited to 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:26.200 have a skate magazine, you know. And the content was 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:29.160 it was the usual fair It was like it was 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:31.680 competitions and a little bit of street stuff, but it 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:36.440 was it was very geared towards a skate distributor started it, 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:38.960 so it was geared towards their brands that they distributed. 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:43.200 Still it is kind of but it's more North calcentric. Uh. 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:47.360 And then another scape, the sort of antithesicist skate magazine 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:50.640 started called trans World Skateboarding, and their goal was to 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:54.320 promote like healthy skateboarding, and then it became this weird 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:57.320 like good and bad thing and um, but that's where 0:14:57.320 --> 0:15:00.560 it all started. And Thrasher obviously still exists, right, and 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:03.600 trans World got into snowboarding and other things Transford, I mean, 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:08.480 it was transform media. Okay, so it dies in the 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:11.600 early eighties. Your fourteen, when do you go to your 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:15.280 first competition? Well, my first competition was when I was 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:19.360 about ten years old, and because as just at out oasis, 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:22.240 I just went, like one one weekend they're having a competition. 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:25.360 So I signed up and you know, filled all the 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:27.440 paperwork and then they called my name when I did 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:30.120 my little run, and then I went and asked what 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:32.400 the results were. And this woman, I'll never forget, she 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:34.920 was going through the results and she had a sheet 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:36.600 of paperwork and I said, can you tell me you 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:38.920 know what place I got? What's your name? Honey? So 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:41.360 she look at the paper. She she like folds over 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:44.520 one paper, she folds over the next paper. Finally she 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:48.320 gets to the last column and I'm second to last 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:51.120 out of like a hundred and how great is that? 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:55.960 So your second second I'll never get the look she 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:59.120 gave me. She's like, Oh, I'm sorry, honey. You got 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:02.200 four through whatever it was, so your second to lass 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:06.080 and what goes through your brain? Uh? I didn't really know. 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:08.320 I think what because went went through my brain at 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:09.840 the time. You know, I wasn't trying to make career. 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:12.720 No one was making I was yeah and whatever it was. 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.480 But it was more like, oh, I gotta figure out 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:18.280 how to do better tricks, or I gotta figure out 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:21.320 a better approach, because my approach was that I thought 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:23.720 I was supposed to submit the tricks that I can do, 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:27.040 to tell them ahead of time, and then do that thing. 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:30.360 And I there was no room for being spontaneous. There 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:32.360 was no creativity really, and I was like, I gotta 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:34.280 figure out better tricks. It will get me noticed. And 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:37.280 that was pretty much the catalyst for sort of creating 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:44.000 my own style. Okay, how do you learn those tricks? 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:50.200 I just started tinkering with different ways to like spin 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:53.520 my board and and do tricks that were not of 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:57.360 It was more out of um necessity, because I wasn't 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:01.480 big enough to do these really these really gnarly tricks 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:03.080 at the top of the bowl and things like that 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:05.280 that the guys we're doing. I mean, I figured out 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:07.359 how to do little aerials and things, but but I 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:10.840 knew how to maneuver my board and and and switch 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:13.480 my body around and do these relate what they called 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:16.840 at the time avant garde tricks that didn't get much 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:21.119 traction but set me apart. Okay, so you literally on 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:23.440 your own trip. No one else is doing the same thing. 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:26.480 No one but for those of us who's certainly been 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:29.320 to the skate park and watched it takes an incredible 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:33.160 amount of repetition and failure to master these tricks. It does, 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:37.000 but it was it was less so then because the 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:39.120 tricks that you were learning back then, you were learning 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:41.440 them for the sake of competition. So you're learning them 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:45.240 to get consistent with them. Nowadays, you can do a trick, 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:47.879 you make one out of a thousand, get it on video. 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:51.439 You know it's hero. But it was not like that 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:53.800 back then. We didn't have videos. We only had competition 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:56.320 to prove ourselves. So you had to learn stuff and 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:58.720 get it dialed and put it in your competition run. 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:00.680 That's how you're gonna get noticed with And how long 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:05.160 was a competition run? Seconds? Seconds? And when you it's 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:07.640 it's whether we're heroes hit San Diego? Mean you're number 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:10.240 ninety four? Was there a big cahun in the skate 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:13.240 park in San Diego? Uh? Yeah, Dave Andreks he was 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:15.439 the local hero. That's why I wanted going stickers. He 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:19.639 read for going. Okay, So I mean, are you up 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:21.840 in your bedroom at night plotting this or is this 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:23.879 just one thing you're doing? It was just one thing 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:28.560 I was doing. It wasn't until I guess, by default, 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:32.240 the way that skating started to get really I don't 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:34.520 want to say exclusive, but it started getting very narrow, 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:36.679 you know. And there wasn't a lot of competition. There 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:39.600 wasn't a lot of interest. I was still skating a 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:42.560 lot and and learning tricks. And the skate park had 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:46.040 a tryouts for their skate park team, um and that 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:48.679 team was going to go represent that park at different 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:53.120 parks for this competition called ASPO Associated Skate Park Owners 0:18:53.440 --> 0:18:56.000 and so I went to the tryouts and I don't 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:58.760 think I was the best skater at the tryouts for 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:02.840 my age group, but I made everything and they picked 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:06.320 me for the team. I made all my tricks, and 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:08.080 the other guys that I thought were better than me, 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:10.960 they were trying really hard things, but they weren't consistent, 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:13.639 and so they picked me, and suddenly I was on. 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:16.679 I was representing Oasis as a skate park team member. 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:19.840 So you originally went to Oasis with your friends. Did 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:22.960 they stick with it or they fall off? Okay, they quit? 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:26.119 So were you friendly with all these people in Oasis? 0:19:26.520 --> 0:19:29.879 I found my community there for sure, absolutely. And the the 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:32.640 locals were, like I said, skating was kind of drying up. 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:35.239 So there were only a handful of locals and that 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:37.320 became my That was my crew, and they were all 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:39.440 from different walks of live, different age groups. You know, 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:42.399 it wasn't like they were they were my peers in 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:46.480 the sense of same age or the same area. Which 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:48.520 was super cool because I got to know, you know, 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:52.080 I I learned about punk music back then. I I 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:54.880 was hanging out with dudes that a mohawks and and 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:57.600 you know, people that were coming from really difficult backgrounds 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:01.439 that found skating as a salvation and and and I 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:04.280 just learned so much through that. Your parents have any 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:06.640