didn't he kill a gay guy? whatever, dude lived a rough life, can't say any of that dogtown nonsense did much for me. RIP anyways.
No. In the early 80's he got arrested for assault, and it was allegedly a 'gay bashing' incident he was involved in. I don't know the specifics. If it was an attack instigated
because someone was gay (not involving a person who just happens to be gay, big difference) then yeah, it's fucked up but people change. I don't know Jay's feelings on the topic 20+ years later either way so not going to make any assumptions. Dude was no angel, that's not up for debate.
Around '85-'87 there was a empty capsule pool at my grandma's house in Reseda (still is), deep end is 9' with no flat and about 4' of vert. Not great for skating and hitting tile is a feat, but Jay Adams was one of the few people who ever slashed the coping. Didn't know it was him until almost 10 years later but my 8-9 y/o self was amazed that someone could grind that lip. To this day seeing that shit is one of my most vivid early memories, still one of the gnarliest things I ever saw, and probably contributed to falling so in love with skateboarding at an early age.
RIP