Skateboarding – How This Phenomenal Sport Got Its Start
Skateboarding has influenced generations since the mid-20th century. Starting in the 1950s, California children placed wheels on wooden boxes so they could ride down the street.
People enjoyed the sport and found it a good form of exercise. They called it sidewalk surfing at first because surfers rode high waves in the summer and skated in the winter to keep their balance. Soon, skateboarding flourished into what it has become today.
Once skateboarding became a sport that people took seriously, skateboarding competitions began. In Minhae Shim Roth’s article, ‘Olympic Event: Skateboarding—Who Invented It?,’ she shares a few of skateboarding’s “firsts.”
“The first publication dedicated entirely to skateboarding, The Quarterly Skateboarder, later rebranded as Skateboarder, was founded in 1964. The first International Skateboard Championships was hosted at La Palma Stadium in Anaheim, California, and broadcast on ABC’s Wide World of Sports in 1965,” she shared. “Skaterdater, the first film on skateboarding written and directed by UCLA student Noel Black in 1965, was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival.”
Tricks and Tribulations
Skating involves several different styles, such as vertical skating, which involves aerial tricks in the air when you ride high ramps; freestyle, which involves outlandish tricks on the ground and seen as entertaining to watch; and street skating, involving nonstop skating down any street while doing freestyle tricks on curbs, rails, and off stairs.
In the mid-1970s, a drought took over Southern California, which took water out of people’s pools. Skaters used these empty pool bowls as an advantage for those wanting to use these bowls as ramps. This led to the creativity of experimenting with a variation of tricks on their boards.
At a skate competition in 1978, Alan Gelfand did the first ollie. You would go down a ramp, and when you reached the top of the other side, you would twist your body and ride down the ramp again. While many speculated for years that Alan stole that trick from somebody else at the skatepark, he is credited as the first person.
Going Pro
Skate competitions brought many future pro skaters in as competitors. Stacy Peralta, a former skater in the “Zephyr Boys” skateboarding group, wanted to make a skate group of his own called the “Bones Brigade.” These boys were unknown at the time, but he chose them because of the many individual skills they all had.
Notable members of the group included skaters Tony Hawk, Rodney Mullen, Steve Caballero, Mike McGill, and Lance Mountain, who soon became legendary pro skaters because of the Bones Brigade.
Throughout the years that Bones Brigade was active in skate competitions, they each made their own skate tricks and would show them off during competitions. Even though they were all close friends who skated and traveled city to city together, they also saw each other as fierce competitors.
Skateboarding Makes a Comeback
In the early 1980s, skateboarding fell off the face of the Earth in California. Skateparks and skate shops closed down, and the official Skateboarder Magazine went out of business. Skaters still had their passion and skateboards, so they tried to find any available places to skate. People even held skate competitions in people’s backyards.
People built temporary skate pipes and ramps that officials quickly shut down. Skaters would not back down and set off to the next newly constructed skate ramps in other locations.
To bring the sport back into the light, skateboard ads featured the Bones Brigade. Each member was the full focus of these ads, showing off their signature boards and skate tricks. These ads started their professional careers as paid skaters.
Skateboarding made a big comeback, and Bones Brigade played a significant part with their determination and practice. Skaters today still use tricks created by notable members of the group.
Rodney Mullen, known as the “Godfather of Skateboarding,” contributed to making countless freestyle tricks, including the ‘first flat ground ollie’ and the ‘kickflip.’ Mike McGill made the ‘McTwist’, an aerial performed in mid-air on the board. Aaron “Jaws” Homoki was the first to land a 25-stair gap. Tony Hawk’s known for the ‘900’, which is three 360-degree spins off a ramp, one of the most difficult tricks to perform in the sport at an advanced level.
On September 29th, 1999, Tony Hawk released his first video game called ‘Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater’ on the PlayStation. He has since made many versions of the game and added more real-life skateboarders in the games. In the game, you can play in different locations and learn many tricks while the awesome soundtrack plays.
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Becoming a ‘Legit’ Sport
Skateboarding finally became an official sport in the 2020 Summer Olympics. For Men’s and Women’s Park Skating, Keegan Palmer and Sakura Yosozumi won the gold medal. And for Men’s and Women’s Street Skating, Yuto Horigome and Momiji Nishiya won the gold medal.
Patti McGee was the first female professional skateboarder at the age of 19. She started out as a surfer but started to fall in love with the sport of skateboarding. LIFE Magazine and Skateboarder Magazine featured her for her easy and breezy stance on her board.
A Surfer Today article titled “Patti McGee, The World’s First Professional Women’s Skateboarder, Passed Away” spoke about her history.
“In an era when skateboarding was predominantly male-dominated, Patti McGee ‘dared’ to reserve a space for women within the sport…Her participation in high-profile events, like the 1966 Dick Clark World Teen Fair, where she performed in front of 45,000 young fans, helped maintain the sport’s visibility afloat during its early years.
In 2010, the Skateboarding Hall of Fame added her for her amazing achievements. She sadly passed away on October 16th, 2024. People remember her as someone who dominated an intimidating sport during a time when people viewed women as just mothers and stay-at-home wives.
Local Perspective
Tony Latina is a local skateboarder here in Las Vegas and explains his passion for the sport.
“I love the individuality and culture of skateboarding. Skateboarding refuses to be put in any sort of box, and the harder you try, the more it proves you wrong,” he said. “You get to be whatever the hell you want because skateboarding is whatever the hell you want. It doesn’t matter if you’re rolling across the street or into the most messed-up pool; skateboarding can, will, and should get you hurt. It will humble you if you let your guard down for even a second, and remind you that you’re alive.”
Gravity Sports Las Vegas
For half a century, skateboarding reached astronomical lengths originally thought impossible. Children feel inspired to buy a board, get on, and learn new tricks. A sport like this will continue to inspire others to do the same.
Logan Callendar, a worker and fellow skater at the Gravity Sports Las Vegas skate shop, shared a bit about his experience skating.
“I grew up skating as a kid, and I have a passion for it. I love that skating can bring people together. I want our business to give back and help people out who want to skate. It gives them the opportunity to try new things and I have a lot of relationships because of skating,” he said. “I’m mostly down at the skatepark on my board trying new tricks and riding down rails, but I’ll also catch a wave on my surfboard.”
If you want to learn more about skating or get great skate equipment, visit the Gravity Sports Las Vegas skate shop and follow their Instagram.
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