A Godfather of Skateboarding Passes Away

[sluggers]

Kicktail innovator Larry Stevenson dies

http://espn.go.com/action/skateboarding/story/_/id/7740600/skateboard-kicktail-innovator-larry-stevenson-dies-81



Larry Stevenson, the former California beach lifeguard whose entrepreneurial vision half a century ago helped create the modern skateboard industry, died Sunday in his room at the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center. He was 81.

Stevenson's most significant contribution to skateboarding's early years of equipment innovation was his design of the kicktail, an advancement of control and safety on par with that of the urethane wheel.

According to skate historian Dale Smith, the conceptual design and dimensions of today's modern skate deck essentially mimic Stevenson's patented drawings from the late 1960s. The controlled leverage generated by a skateboard's kicktail has fueled an ongoing trick progression, from simple flatland turns to Torey Pudwill's lipslide to bluntslide combination that helped him win the Tampa Pro on the same afternoon as Stevenson's passing.

Years before the kicktail, however, Stevenson had already rode an increasing wave of skate popularity, starting in 1963 with the formation of Makaha skateboards. As a Venice Beach lifeguard, the young Stevenson had noticed kids riding surf-style along the oceanfront on steel-wheeled skateboards. These rudimentary setups were either homemade rattletraps or equally primitive store-bought models.

Seeing the potential for something better, Stevenson shaped his skateboards like surfboards and marketed them through Surfguide magazine (which he had launched a few months earlier), featuring top surfers Mike Hynson and Mike Doyle sidewalk surfing on clay-wheeled Makaha completes. Within the year, Makaha sponsored skateboarding's first team, held its first demos (called exhibitions back then), and by 1965 was selling upward of 2,000 boards a day. In a few short years, Makaha helped change the public's perception of skateboards from dangerous and annoying toys to functionally and elegantly designed instruments of motion, similar to surfboards.
Regardless, the brand would never recover fully from skateboarding's crash in popularity during the mid- to late 1960s, and Stevenson returned to lifeguarding. His finger, though, never strayed far from the pulse, and during the mid-'80s boom, he launched Poweredge magazine, which had a four-year run and was relaunched in 2009 by Stevenson's son, Curt.

In September, I.E. Distribution (parent company of World Industries) announced a multiyear agreement to produce Makaha skateboards as part of its longboard and cruiser quiver. In 2010, Stevenson was inducted -- along with Stacy Peralta, Craig Stecyk, and Patti McGee -- to the Skateboarding Hall of Fame, which has headquarters at the Skateboard Museum in Simi Valley, Calif.

Curt Stevenson, 46, told ESPN.com that his father struggled with pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease over the past 18 months of his life. "My dad fought so hard over the past year and a half. The doctors wanted to let nature take its course, because he was so frail, but he made a comeback and was out of the hospital for 10 or 12 days. Then we had to rush him back."

Curt added that his father died at 2:30 p.m., listening to his favorite Perry Como CD.

[Facehead]

Thank you.

[bee]

I feel like someone would of figured that shit out anyways

[Upgrayedd]

I feel like someone would of figured that shit out anyways

well he did first. now pay some respect. dick.

[Josh McLaughlin]

Thank you.

Yes, Thank you.

[managuense]

I feel like someone would of figured that shit out anyways

well he did first. now pay some respect. dick.

yeah what an idiot

[DaSk8D00D]

I'm just glad that it wasnt Rodney. RIP nonetheless

[Skate Edge]

R.I.P.

From what I gather, Hobie (owned by Vita Pakt juice company) was like the corporate leech trying to cash in on skateboarding, and Makaha was like the real deal skate company.  Maybe that's a gross oversimplification though. 

[L33Tg33k]

Everything's a gross oversimplification, even this comment.

[Bagger Vance]

RIP. Thank you for the kick tail

[the snake]

RIP. Thank you for the kick tail

[Beeda Weeda]

RIP and tahnk you

[the snake]

Who created the nose? Frank Gerwer?

[TheDraught]

Without Stevenson the kicktail might have been invented - let's say - 25 years later, which means we would now be 25 years of skateboard evolution behind, and we would all be doing streetplants, powerslides and boneless ones.

So yeah, thank you Larry.

[HATE!]

Whenever I read about a person like this, or Frank Nasworthy, I always stop to think about that light bulb moment.  Those guys literally changed skateboarding more than any trick- they made it possible for tricks to be done.  Thanks for thinking progressively.

[Cockaigne]

Sounds like an awesome guy.
Thank you so much and bon voyage.

[Skate Edge]

Without Stevenson the kicktail might have been invented - let's say - 25 years later, which means we would now be 25 years of skateboard evolution behind, and we would all be doing streetplants, powerslides and boneless ones.

So yeah, thank you Larry.

What's wrong with those tricks?

[sleepypancakes]

Looks like we all owe you a lot. Rest In Peace.

[DaSk8D00D]

Without Stevenson the kicktail might have been invented - let's say - 25 years later, which means we would now be 25 years of skateboard evolution behind, and we would all be doing streetplants, powerslides and boneless ones.

So yeah, thank you Larry.

What's wrong with those tricks?

they've all been replaced with tre flips, switch heels, & nollie bigspins

[baconeggandcheese]

Without Stevenson the kicktail might have been invented - let's say - 25 years later, which means we would now be 25 years of skateboard evolution behind, and we would all be doing streetplants, powerslides and boneless ones.

So yeah, thank you Larry.

What's wrong with those tricks?

they've all been replaced with tre flips, switch heels, & nollie bigspins

No, they haven't been replaced, and there is nothing wrong with them.  However, that's ALL we would have if it took another 25 years to invent the kicktail.  I'm thankful that I can do those tricks, and new tricks.  RIP bud, and thanks.

[ORGANIKARL]

I feel like someone would of figured that shit out anyways

well he did first. now pay some respect. dick.