Awkward (but not bad) Pro Encounters

[Owen]

I had a dream the other night that Yaje Popson was going to my school as a photography student. he lived in the dorm room under mine but was stand-offish/ didn't want to be bothered. my dream guess was that he could tell i recognized his celebrity and didn't want to be fan-boyed out about it. i caught his interest in the end though when i parked my 85 vanagon out front- I could tell he respected the ride.

Damn bro next you'll be crashing Mark Suciu's book club

[Burt Ward]

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I had a dream the other night that Yaje Popson was going to my school as a photography student. he lived in the dorm room under mine but was stand-offish/ didn't want to be bothered. my dream guess was that he could tell i recognized his celebrity and didn't want to be fan-boyed out about it. i caught his interest in the end though when i parked my 85 vanagon out front- I could tell he respected the ride.

[close]

Damn bro next you'll be crashing Mark Suciu's book club

First rule of Mark Suciu's book club? Post about it on Instagram.

[throwaway187]

I always skate the same park as Michael pullizzi *spelling and miles Silvas. Michael is super nice and super down to earth and amazing in person. Miles is a bit jockish and show offy but the other day he caught my board for me and on the way out gave me a half hearted goodbye so I think I might slowly start being accepted by the locals. Also was in LA summer 2018 saw Tristan funkhouser at a park also really good in person not like when someone puts out a sick part then you see them in person and they aren't great.  Last is Nyjah at Griffith park he rolled up 5 deep on dirt bikes. All his friends were super cool introduced themselves with fist bumps nyjah just laid back. He did a really good trick into the main snake run thing my friend couldn't resist to fan out and nyjah was just like thanks under his breath while walking away.

[Willie]

The Antihero team was at my local park and it started raining. I told Cardiel that the painted concrete gets slick as ice as soon as it gets slightly wet and that he shouldn’t fuck with it.

He grunted a dismissive “Yeah, alright” and dropped in. Carved around a bowl corner and his board shot out and he flipped back heels over head (it’s in the Tent City bonus video). I resisted the urge to say anything else.

[WobbleHeadBob]

The Antihero team was at my local park and it started raining. I told Cardiel that the painted concrete gets slick as ice as soon as it gets slightly wet and that he shouldn’t fuck with it.

He grunted a dismissive “Yeah, alright” and dropped in. Carved around a bowl corner and his board shot out and he flipped back heels over head (it’s in the Tent City bonus video). I resisted the urge to say anything else.

haha instant karma, thats rad

[Spankthemonkey]

braydon zysfranski taught me smith grinds on a fallen post light at a little demo at uss in orlando around 03

[AssFlea]

Was probably awkward for them but I was doing basic grinds on the Copley middle block like front nose Fakie manny on the 1st block  cab out.
I had just wrapped up my first wino was in a program and started skating skating again. I was chilling and boom long 5050 on the second block but he bailed it but was hauling ass and it was powerful as Fuck.
I was like wow you can do that too. Sick.

He smiled and was probably like why is this crazy junky kid talking to me. Haha

[Cranberry Relish]

Not awkward encounter with a pro, but an encounter with a Pro's grandma... 

Was skating in Oakland (CA) with a friend and stopped for a second to let an older lady pass.   As she got closer, she stopped and said to us, "Do you guys know Jovontae Turner?"  We said, "Yes, we do."  And the lady responded, "He's my grandson!"

[AssFlea]

Not awkward encounter with a pro, but an encounter with a Pro's grandma... 

Was skating in Oakland (CA) with a friend and stopped for a second to let an older lady pass.   As she got closer, she stopped and said to us, "Do you guys know Jovontae Turner?"  We said, "Yes, we do."  And the lady responded, "He's my grandson!"

that's pretty cool. I would have asked for an interview and an autographed photo of the grandma

[donkey]

The first time I met jamie thomas was when i was skating satellite beach skatepark in florida (im a local from cocoa beach) and i was leaving the park when this dude in a beanie with a moustache walks past me and my friend and we say whats up casually. i didn't even think anything of it then my friend said that was jamie thomas and i was like what the fuck no that isnt. and he was like im dead serious thats him and then we went back after grabbing some drinks from the gas station and he started a huge game of skate at the park and this kid named kobi almost beat him. then i became best friends with kobi and hes one of my best friends to skate and film with

[Dwyck]

that's a funky way to make a lasting friendship 

[pedro_mayn]

I have a few;

Met Dom Henry at the Blips premier and I was thinking "don't fan out now" then when he shook my hand I just blurted out "YOUR SKATING'S SICK!" Dom is super safe and I did message him on insta to say "sorry for fanning out to". He was of course, sound. He did say up the dragons, which was nice.

After the premier I got talking to Baines and repeatedly told him that he was sick, too. I remember also repeatedly saying his nollie big spins over the cheese block in Spit were sick (the Lost Art crew came down previously and killed it).

Not so awkward but was cool, was when the Adidas lot came down in 2017. My homie popped up a drain that led to a concrete bollard, in which made some of them go "oh shit". Jason Donnelly was trying a fs flip over it, but kept getting chewed up by Swansea's rough pavement. I did film a bit on my old VX21, shame he didn't get it. Silas was super safe, Niels was incredible in person and shut the park down. Jamal Smith was super sound and got hyped on my Sabo tee. We chatted about his music and Philly. The whole crew were all down to earth and sound.

Same with the Adidas lot, when they came down in 2015. But only Blondey and Alec Majerus made it down. Alec was down to hang with us all and we all took a humourous pic with him. He killed it at the demo.

[AssFlea]

I met Jack Sabback once. I couldn't say a word. It was like I just ran into the jesus from the Big Lebowski

[throwaway187]

To update my post I told miles sorry if I got in your way he said I'm all good. Pullizi kept coming to the back of the skatepark where I was hiding from all the good people. I wanted to ask him a question but felt like I'd fumble my words maybe next time. In my 1st post when I said he is super nice and down to earth I never actually talked to him my friend did and said that. I've overheard conversations with him and his friends he seems really cool and normal skates with a smile too. Not really related to me but my friend that used to live in San Diego a long time ago was friends with Jamie Thomas and Jamie still sends him boxes to this day which I think is pretty cool.

[tony volume]

I was filming my friend at the DVC ledges one night, and after he got the clip Miles Silvas showed up with Alex Kissinger and Miika Adamov. Miles was super cool and was trying to get a trick. Got to talk with miika before we got the boot from security. Later that night, that one shot adidas commercial came out that miles did.

[Toadfish Rebecchi]

Was probably awkward for them but I was doing basic grinds on the Copley middle block like front nose Fakie manny on the 1st block  cab out.
I had just wrapped up my first wino was in a program and started skating skating again. I was chilling and boom long 5050 on the second block but he bailed it but was hauling ass and it was powerful as Fuck.
I was like wow you can do that too. Sick.

He smiled and was probably like why is this crazy junky kid talking to me. Haha

This makes absolutely no sense and made me feel like I had brain damage.

[Nanda Zinger]

Met a lot of pros over the years so ill cite the oddest, by far... lennie kirk after he got back from doing a mission in nicaragua... dude was so far gone, he was straight up cult leader status. Rebuking fans for idolizing skate companies as he is wearing head to toe matching DC gear... cornrow Kirk.

[HyenaChaser]

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Not awkward encounter with a pro, but an encounter with a Pro's grandma... 

Was skating in Oakland (CA) with a friend and stopped for a second to let an older lady pass.   As she got closer, she stopped and said to us, "Do you guys know Jovontae Turner?"  We said, "Yes, we do."  And the lady responded, "He's my grandson!"

[close]

that's pretty cool. I would have asked for an interview and an autographed photo of the grandma

This reminds of one time my friend was taking photos of me 180ing a stair set at our high school and this woman comes up and starts talking to us about skateboarding and she’s like “my nephew is a professional, have you heard of Stephan Janoski?”

Another time I brought my skateboard while volunteering at this music festival, this dude is like “oh that’s cool! My son is a professional, I’ll bring some mags tomorrow!” He doesn’t really elaborate and I’m like whatever, literally heard that one before. He comes back the next day with a bookmarked Thrasher and he says “this is my son,” and opens it up to some photos of Silas Baxter Neil.

[WobbleHeadBob]

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Was probably awkward for them but I was doing basic grinds on the Copley middle block like front nose Fakie manny on the 1st block  cab out.
I had just wrapped up my first wino was in a program and started skating skating again. I was chilling and boom long 5050 on the second block but he bailed it but was hauling ass and it was powerful as Fuck.
I was like wow you can do that too. Sick.

He smiled and was probably like why is this crazy junky kid talking to me. Haha

[close]

This makes absolutely no sense and made me feel like I had brain damage.

Assflea drinks spray paint. Just smile politely and hope he goes away

[no habla mango]

copley was [still is but kinda skatestopped] a jumbo 3 block. the first ledge is what most people skated, gershon ollied onto the 2nd and kickflipped off on thrasher raw. i think the wisdom brothers might've skated the 2nd one as a ledge but no specifics come to mind.
no idear who assflea was skating w/ but he was gapping onto the 2nd stairs and ledge trick to manny on the bottom stair. or the pro was?
his writing was a little hard to follow but i'm aware of the spot so i can kinda understand.

[fang]

Met a lot of pros over the years so ill cite the oddest, by far... lennie kirk after he got back from doing a mission in nicaragua... dude was so far gone, he was straight up cult leader status. Rebuking fans for idolizing skate companies as he is wearing head to toe matching DC gear... cornrow Kirk.

I love Lennie. Have his angel harvest graphic tattooed on my leg

[FrozenIndustries]

Expand Quote

Met a lot of pros over the years so ill cite the oddest, by far... lennie kirk after he got back from doing a mission in nicaragua... dude was so far gone, he was straight up cult leader status. Rebuking fans for idolizing skate companies as he is wearing head to toe matching DC gear... cornrow Kirk.

[close]

I love Lennie. Have his angel harvest graphic tattooed on my leg

So sick. Both of these things.

[Rat]

While he wasn't a pro at the time, I was skating a park at the Gold Coast a few years back and one skater there just kept eyeing me off and pointing me out to some other guys he was with. I wasn't sure if I pissed him off somehow but he eventually walked up to me and addressed me by name, only then did I recognize him as Jack Fardell (looked completely different from when I used to skate with him in Canberra), I then got a brief introduction to the Hoon team.

[satan]

Not really an awkward encounter for me but it had to have been for the kid involved.
It's the 90's, Clantee park is new and someone I was with was way too overzealous to skate that shitty park cuz I was there on what felt like opening day. Seemed like a hundred groms playing criss-cross-crash and 1 oldtimer just flying thru the place dodging tictaccers left and right.
I'm walking up and I see Peanut at a bench so I chill with him and watch the kids. He looks like he's waiting on someone and seems pretty bummed, maybe that's the awkward part for me.
Anyhow. Oldtimer turns out to be Acosta, or so I've heard, idk the guy.. He's flying around trying to get speed to air the hip. You know when you're walking towards someone and you both do the stutter step to avoid each other? Acosta and this kid did that, but Acosta is charging and the kid kept tictaccing into his path, Acosta would carve the other way.. They were 60-80ft apart (maybe farther?) at the beginning and must have juked back and forth 4-5 times. It was like watching a slo-mo train wreck.
Finally they collide and the kid just gets body checked to the face/helmet. Dude tried to catch/block the kid before the hit but he missed. Ends up holding this knocked out grom by one arm, just dangling there like a teddy bear. I'm thinking omg what a bad position to be in, what's this guy gonna do? He waits a few secs and the kid isn't waking up so he turns to the row of a dozen or so mom's "watching" their kids at the park and asks if it's their kid. He asked several times still holding the limp grom by 1 arm. Seriously, none of them even noticed. I'm thinking shit, he's screwed, cops, ambulance, crappy day, what's a guy to do? Apparently gently lay the kid down on the ground and skate off. About 30sec later I heard some lady scream, "MY BABY!!". Don't remember the rest. Think the kid woke up in a daze, don't remember him having to be carted away.

[Escape Hell]

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Expand Quote

Met a lot of pros over the years so ill cite the oddest, by far... lennie kirk after he got back from doing a mission in nicaragua... dude was so far gone, he was straight up cult leader status. Rebuking fans for idolizing skate companies as he is wearing head to toe matching DC gear... cornrow Kirk.

[close]

I love Lennie. Have his angel harvest graphic tattooed on my leg

[close]

So sick. Both of these things.

Sick skater Sick mind

[evanwilliamsnollieheel]

I went to the riperide rally in Lincoln city Oregon and was tryna keep it cool then saw wes kremer and had to say hello so I went up and kind of awkwardly stood behind him while he was talking with someone and waited for him to notice me, said whats up got the daps and went back to my friends who were all to scared to go kook it like I did. awhile later I'm drunk as shit skating around the park with a hydro full of whiskey offering various pros and ams shots. gave tnt, Trixie, neckface, jerry  gurney and countless other heads shots.  wes ended up smoking a blunt with me and my homies and later I found myself front row right on the deck of the massive clam shell while everyone was sessioning it and felt a tap on my shoulder, I turn to see wes passing me a spliff and ended up smoking it with him evan smith and t-funk. later on  I was chillin with wes and david Gravette on some benches and Gravette notices the music cut out so we went to see what happen and it was when cory junea(I have no idea how to spell that last name) hit his head and seized on the flat bottom trying that insane frontside kickflip, and got up and walked away mid seizure. so fucking gnarly. when we first got there tho I went to go lurk on the free yerbs and as I'm tryna walk back thru the top part of the park and the guy infront of me is taking fucking days to go anywhere and keeps stopping to say whats up to people, I'm literally saying hurry tf up or something along those lines as I realize the man infront of me is none other then peter fuckin Hewitt and just cut out mid sentence. he looks back and I just look away and try to act casual. still so mad I didn't say whats up to him. I got to meet so many people I kind of blew it by being so drunk all weekend but then after the trip the dc team rolled through my town and stopped at the local shop/park. wes remembered us and we smoked another blunt, skaters ive never seen before were showing up to my local park cause they were there(my locals mostly tranny and a lot of skaters are scared of it) we were suppose to show them some spots but this fuckin kook local kid that thinks hes our gift from skateboarding wouldn't leave them alone about all the spots he knows even though this kid does boneless's when he skates street. takes them to one ass spot up the road with like 2 cars full of heads in tow, they got vibed out and said they were bailing on the way back to the park I made my homie give me his phone so I could text jon gawrdner pins to various spots, one of those spots t-funk got a noseblunt on the green electrical box.

[TheLurper]

My friend and I ran into Jaws at the bar the other night.

He saw my friend first, took a selfie with him, and I just stood there awkwardly. Then he noticed me, greeted me (even though he couldn't remember my name), and then we all bullshitted about nothing for a few minutes.

Jaws has always been friendly and cool, but man, it was slightly awkward to be left out of the selfie.

[Lorem_Ipsum]

I was eating breakfast with my lady when I noticed a friend of mine in line to order some food. It was an order at the counter styled restaurant, so I got up and went over to tap him on the shoulder and say hi, and right as I was extending my arm to get his attention, he turns around.

It ended up being Davis Torgeson - I lowered my arm, blinked a couple of times and turned around to go back to my table. I was wearing a spitfire beanie and the buddy that he was with noticed and gave me the nod while I was trying to wish myself out of existence. Awkward, but not bad. But definitely not good.

[sceatmon]

Met Wade D at a demo in London... Was fanning out over his its official part and accidentally sent a glob of spit flying directly into his eye, he laughed it off but it was still undoubtably one of the most awkward experiences of my life. Actually saw him at a spot the next day with all the primitive dudes, he recognised me and skated over to chat with my girlfriend and I for like 10 minutes, told me to come through with my board and have a skate. Came back to the spot with new shoes blistering the fuck out've my feet and couldn't land shit, I know for a fact he wouldn't have been paying any attention to my skating but still had the worst performance anxiety of my life hahah. Real nice dude regardless, was stoked to meet him Tiago and that. Shalom.

[Whitedude]

copley was [still is but kinda skatestopped] a jumbo 3 block. the first ledge is what most people skated, gershon ollied onto the 2nd and kickflipped off on thrasher raw. i think the wisdom brothers might've skated the 2nd one as a ledge but no specifics come to mind.
no idear who assflea was skating w/ but he was gapping onto the 2nd stairs and ledge trick to manny on the bottom stair. or the pro was?
his writing was a little hard to follow but i'm aware of the spot so i can kinda understand.

this is a pretty old post but your talking about the three block on the other side of the fountain right?