Awkward (but not bad) Pro Encounters

[WobbleHeadBob]

I saw Mike McGill at a grocery store in Encinitas yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.
He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?”
I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.
The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.
When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.

this myth got busted the first time someone tried to snake a skate name into it. why would you even bother doing somehing like this?

[eyodu]

When I was 11 years old I met Danny Garcia at a Lakai demo, he was super cool and was skating the demo really well. We started talking and then ended up having a 15 minute conversation mid demo. He then says "Okay, what do you wanna see me do?" I told him to back lip the big handrail at the park. He rolled up to it a few times and came back and said: "shit that rail is kinda scary, anything else you wanna see?" I told him "no, you're pro, you did bigger shit in Mosaic, you got this."

He finally went for it, broke his tail on the landing and couldn't skate the rest of the demo. He looked so bummed. I never spoke to him again after that.   

[Garth Marenghi]

When I was 11 years old I met Danny Garcia at a Lakai demo, he was super cool and was skating the demo really well. We started talking and then ended up having a 15 minute conversation mid demo. He then says "Okay, what do you wanna see me do?" I told him to back lip the big handrail at the park. He rolled up to it a few times and came back and said: "shit that rail is kinda scary, anything else you wanna see?" I told him "no, you're pro, you did bigger shit in Mosaic, you got this."

He finally went for it, broke his tail on the landing and couldn't skate the rest of the demo. He looked so bummed. I never spoke to him again after that.   

Sounds like you did him a favour.

[rawr1922]

I approached musicians in the past. Awkward experience turned me off from talking to "famous" people. Rather just admire from afar nowadays. Anyways, recently walked right by Pat Burke. Just looked at him, smiled then kept walking.

[Jollyoli]

Non-story: I walked passed Booze-n-tits outside a shopping centre in Scotland, I thought that guy looks just like Boozentits but it was too odd a situation to compute so I was just staring at him in my civilian office garb. He has a trick at a non-spot there in an adidas video, 6 months later I was like "Oh, it was him".

[JK42]

I was helping out my mate who runs a park in Manchester at the Dwindle demo a couple of years back. Chris Haslam turned up early ahead of the rest of the team so we got him some food and made him a brew and he was chilling and chatting with everyone. One guy was fanboying out so much he just went over and hugged him. Then everyone wanted a Haslam hug. I think he hugged more than he skated that day. I think fanboy himself went back six times. A lot of love.

[DISTANT RUMOURS]

- Lance Mountain
I probably told this before:

Youness is 10 years younger than me andgrew up 3 houses from me.
He started to do well and was skating 'the NIKE SB: the bird is the word tour'.

I was a huge fan of Lance Mountain and I know he'd be there on that tour. so I asked Youness if he could Lance to sign a board for me.

Me and a friend drove to the demo after work and of course we came in when the demo was just done. I was bummed as hell since I didn't get to see him. I texted Youness and askedd him where he was at.

There were TONS of kids everywhere since the demo was just over and the Pro guys were standing there taking pics etc. and after a while they went backstage which made it even worse. Bare in mind this was in the P-rod heyday.

About 20 minutes into the chaos Youness comes out with 2 security guards and gets me backstage.


I see P-Rod, Koston and Ba chilling at a table and they all said hi.
Wieger sees my Morrissey shirt and says 'Great shirt dude' and does that *poke your stomach thing* that dads do?

Than one of a sudden Lance Mountain comes out and hands me a Powell Peralta board with Happy Birthday on it and his autograph. And I stood there and I almost bursted out into tears from happiness. And he was like 'It's ok man, it's ok, glad you like it'. I sincerly thanked him and Youness,  and bailed out.

After the meet I felt like I kook because I was so starstruck I could barely say anything meaningful...

Stared at the deck the whole way home though.

Barely saw, spoke or heard from Youness after that. He kinda blew up and forgot about the hometown.

Which sucks.



- Jim Greco
While skateing in Barca we were going out one night and kicked it pretty hard. It was late and it was time to head back to the appartment. On our way back we see a club with a couple of bouncers that are throwing a guy out with tons of loud swearing, yelling etc.

We stop, and one of my friends says 'that's Jim Greco!'. He kinda looks our way, kind of gives us a nod and proceeds to yell.


Rob Dyrdek

he was trying a trick at Paralel and it was some grind flip out. he kept missing it and was yelling really really loud. And the younger kids were intimidated by him. I was like 'Screw it, I'll skate over here'. he stopped, looked at me all pissed off... but he wasn't pissed off at mee. He said hi apologized for his yelling and behaviour and landed it a few tries later. Ended up in the DC video I believe.

he wasn't a dick at all, he was a 'pro'. In it, but friendly to the kids.

Appleyard
he was doing a Globe demo at the local park and he was killing it. I was just watching from a quarter pipe and one of a sudden he stands next to me. Rolls in and is gone. I think he was trying a backside 180 to fakie 5-0 on a HUGE ledge.

Rolls in, rolls away and does that a few times and starts talking to me 'I just can't get it man!' and I said something like ' 5 more tries, you got it man!'. Kept rolling in and just said small things everytime he had to wait 'Dem kids man! Dem kiiiiids... some are very good though'.

I guys by the fifth try he actually landed it, came back and said something like 'freaky!'. And skated another thing.

Cool guy and you could tell he had fun.

[AssFlea]

That Pete kid from shortys (sm). The snow camo guy.

He doesn't like pressure flip nose grind 180. Muska was like Yeah!! But not dude he was like
Meh...

I thought about beating him up but I was on parole.

I never tried to make contact. It was a mistake.

[rawbertson.]

Saw Morgan Smith get off a bus with friends in Toronto when he was first getting big. I was skating in an alley with my friend and I said "Holy shit its Morgan Smith!" . Morgan was kind of weirded out and his friends laughed. 2 of them came up and knew who I was and wanted to get a picture with me lol.

I saw Morgan a few times here and there over the years @ Dunbat skatepark and he actually remembered me and was a really nice guy.

I noticed he would just do THE SAME TRICK like 50 times over and over again. I thought this was so insane like this was just how he warmed up. I would always just get something once and move on. It also kind of put into perspective how hard he would work on a single trick once his "warmup" was complete.


Also put into perspective how hard he would work on something like the reason he was practicing something 50 times was to prepare to skate a gap later or to film a certain lege trick on a street spot.


met paul machnau at my local park in waterloo, he recognized my board it was some obscure canadian pro i cant even remember who it was, and he was like "yo sick board man, that guy rips" he was super nice.


 Ryan Decenzo was there and i just remember thinking how short he seemed irl. he actually seemed to land everything first try like he seemed to be on this inhuman level of skating actually that i have never witnessed irl. he went to his "go-to's" like fs flip, kickflip, nollie stuff, he just had everything so dialed it was insane how quick he got all the tricks he wanted. he was pretty cool actually he just acted like i was a normal dude he wasnt too hollywood or anything. TJ Rogers was there but i didnt know who he was at the time. i actually skated with him tons of times and had no clue who he was, even after the blind video. there were a lot of guys floating around with tall T's back then who ripped sw fs stuff. everyone was giving a lot of props after i landed some stuff too which felt pretty cool


met grant patterson at my local park then saw him working at a skate shop in hamilton years later and i could tell he recognized me because he just kept staring at me with this puzzled look LOL I reminded him of the waterloo demo and he was like yooooooo.  super nice guy



met Marc Tison @ the big O and ordered beers with him to the spot. everoyne said he doesnt talk much and we actually had areally good conversation with him about how skating had changed over the past few years and he RIPPED. his whole crew was godlike and also gave props to me and my friend for just landing stuff to us that was NBD but we worked very hard on because that spot very hard to skate if you have never been. my friend did this HUGE bail and they all yelled SWAN DIVE!!! luckily his face somehow missed the flat bottom.


man some good times totally forgot about a lot of this stuff

[AssFlea]

Saw Morgan Smith get off a bus with friends in Toronto when he was first getting big. I was skating in an alley with my friend and I said "Holy shit its Morgan Smith!" . Morgan was kind of weirded out and his friends laughed. 2 of them came up and knew who I was and wanted to get a picture with me lol.

I saw Morgan a few times here and there over the years @ Dunbat skatepark and he actually remembered me and was a really nice guy.

I noticed he would just do THE SAME TRICK like 50 times over and over again. I thought this was so insane like this was just how he warmed up. I would always just get something once and move on. It also kind of put into perspective how hard he would work on a single trick once his "warmup" was complete.


Also put into perspective how hard he would work on something like the reason he was practicing something 50 times was to prepare to skate a gap later or to film a certain lege trick on a street spot.


met paul machnau at my local park in waterloo, he recognized my board it was some obscure canadian pro i cant even remember who it was, and he was like "yo sick board man, that guy rips" he was super nice.


 Ryan Decenzo was there and i just remember thinking how short he seemed irl. he actually seemed to land everything first try like he seemed to be on this inhuman level of skating actually that i have never witnessed irl. he went to his "go-to's" like fs flip, kickflip, nollie stuff, he just had everything so dialed it was insane how quick he got all the tricks he wanted. he was pretty cool actually he just acted like i was a normal dude he wasnt too hollywood or anything. TJ Rogers was there but i didnt know who he was at the time. i actually skated with him tons of times and had no clue who he was, even after the blind video. there were a lot of guys floating around with tall T's back then who ripped sw fs stuff. everyone was giving a lot of props after i landed some stuff too which felt pretty cool


met grant patterson at my local park then saw him working at a skate shop in hamilton years later and i could tell he recognized me because he just kept staring at me with this puzzled look LOL I reminded him of the waterloo demo and he was like yooooooo.  super nice guy



met Marc Tison @ the big O and ordered beers with him to the spot. everoyne said he doesnt talk much and we actually had areally good conversation with him about how skating had changed over the past few years and he RIPPED. his whole crew was godlike and also gave props to me and my friend for just landing stuff to us that was NBD but we worked very hard on because that spot very hard to skate if you have never been. my friend did this HUGE bail and they all yelled SWAN DIVE!!! luckily his face somehow missed the flat bottom.


man some good times totally forgot about a lot of this stuff

those are pretty good ones.

[fakie nollie]

I saw Schmatty on the side of the road in northern Malibu/ Camarillo.

Had a dope BMW and was with a girl who was at least a foot taller than him.

No encounter was had, other than my wife asking why I’m breaking my neck to check out some dude.

[ColinYourAssOut]

Skated a great barn mini ramp with Duffy when Plan B came through in 1994, he did the best fucking BS smiths, I asked him what the trick to locking them in for how he did them, to which he just said "I dunno, you just do it", and that was that.  I was super jealous of how he'd just slap that shit over the coping and glide 20 feet like it was nothing.

Still can't lock one in to save my life to this day.

[skrub]

I met Chris Cole at a thing and he was really nice. I had just seen his movie and his wife was there and she was giving me a dirty look but that was probably because I was straight staring at her while I talked to Chris Cole. Then I was like "can I take your picture" and he tried to take it with me but I was like "no, not with me, just you," which was kind of awkward idk why I didn't want to be in it. Then he kept talking and my uber was calling me so I was like "oh sorry my Uber is here I have to go" and I left.

He was definitely nice and it was definitely awkward. The picture has red looking at me and Tony Hawk looking at her, it is kind of awesome. I'm sort of glad I didn't get in it with him.

[NoComply180]

When I was like 13-14 Kyle Berard, Gailea Momulu and Chris Haslam showed up at the Kettering skate plaza in Ohio my dad drove me like 4 hours to to skate. Kyle berard was super drunk or gone on something and I asked him to play skate and beat him. I ran up to my dad super excited after and told him I beat a pro skater in skate (as if he’d know what that was) and he just furrowed his brow and said “that’s a pro?”

[radcunt]

I met Chris Cole at a thing and he was really nice. I had just seen his movie and his wife was there and she was giving me a dirty look but that was probably because I was straight staring at her while I talked to Chris Cole. Then I was like "can I take your picture" and he tried to take it with me but I was like "no, not with me, just you," which was kind of awkward idk why I didn't want to be in it. Then he kept talking and my uber was calling me so I was like "oh sorry my Uber is here I have to go" and I left.

He was definitely nice and it was definitely awkward. The picture has red looking at me and Tony Hawk looking at her, it is kind of awesome. I'm sort of glad I didn't get in it with him.

post the photo

[Discofightclub]

Nick boserio focused my board about a month or two ago.
The shop I work at was having a prem for the Pass~Port video and I basically just ghosted because I noticed an ex girlfriend was there and wanted to dip before she saw me, didn’t have time to grab my board, about an hour later I saw a video on Instagram of him putting his beer(s) on the floor and focusing my board.
Pretty stoked on that to be honest, hopefully I can get him back one day

[DarthDingusMaximus]

When I was in southern California I had many run ins with countless pro's and am's.  I'll put it this way the humblest guys I met was Gerwer, Hewitt, Grosso .

I was in San Jose met Grosso at idk which park but he was skating a bowl, I was scared to rollin he was merciless with heckling after he heckled me, I was chiming right back too so I didn't seem like a butthurt bitch. I got him good by asking him where were you during the early 90's? kinda jabbing his fledgling career I told him I'm jk but I could sense it got to him.

Gerwer was taking the bus in PDX to Hollwood area I was excited and I think he knew it as I told my exgf at the time to clear a seat and he sat next to us. I totally fanned out but he told me to not blow it and I felt awkward and was silent the entire time.

  Hewitt I was in Ocean Beach and skating the park he was in the bar next door I bumped into him in the bar with Navarette both cools dudes as I asked if they'd like to split a pitcher I had already had in my hands talked some shit with both really nice dudes.

Lance Mountain and alot of the dudes during the I think KOTR in Carbondale, CO Grosso was there too after a overdose and countless others were there and I spent most of the time talking trash with homies I told TNT he was dipshit. 

I really like Lance Mountain as he seems like the dude you'd want to have as your mentor, really even headed and goofy as shit.

[pica]

Arto came up to me and said hi, he obviously mistook me for some guy he knows, once he noticed it was kind of weird for a second but he played it cool.

[Joust Ostrich]

I met Chris Cole at a thing and he was really nice. I had just seen his movie and his wife was there and she was giving me a dirty look but that was probably because I was straight staring at her while I talked to Chris Cole. Then I was like "can I take your picture" and he tried to take it with me but I was like "no, not with me, just you," which was kind of awkward idk why I didn't want to be in it. Then he kept talking and my uber was calling me so I was like "oh sorry my Uber is here I have to go" and I left.

He was definitely nice and it was definitely awkward. The picture has red looking at me and Tony Hawk looking at her, it is kind of awesome. I'm sort of glad I didn't get in it with him.

Did you ask about his pony?  Also, post that photo please.

[ClownOfTheDay]

Met one of the GX dudes when I still lived in SF, I tried talking to him but I think he was super high, whether it was weed or acid, he acted like I wasn't there, so I'd assume the latter 

[AngryBlackMan]

I just met Milton Martinez in the ATL airport. Dude is super nice, we talked about our kids skating. Only thing awkward was me and the fact that I don't look like I skate. Totally fanned out and asked for a pic with him.

[MC Solaar]

I met Julien Stranger in Zurich airport once. I was getting a connecting flight from Austria to Manchester, and he was on his way to Copenhagen. I was buying a beer at the time and saw him out of the corner of my eye. Went over and asked if he was actually Julien Stranger, then was a bit star struck and didn't know what to do. He was a really nice guy, asked what I was doing in Austria etc, talked a bit about Copenhagen open. Managed to get a quick photo, then realised I was wearing both an Antihero hat and shirt at the time and felt like a bit of a goon.

[WastedHippy]

I met Chris Cole at a thing and he was really nice. I had just seen his movie and his wife was there and she was giving me a dirty look but that was probably because I was straight staring at her while I talked to Chris Cole. Then I was like "can I take your picture" and he tried to take it with me but I was like "no, not with me, just you," which was kind of awkward idk why I didn't want to be in it. Then he kept talking and my uber was calling me so I was like "oh sorry my Uber is here I have to go" and I left.

He was definitely nice and it was definitely awkward. The picture has red looking at me and Tony Hawk looking at her, it is kind of awesome. I'm sort of glad I didn't get in it with him.

lol what kind of weirdo asks for just a photo of them, I'm suprised he didn't just walk away

[43]

Gonz used to get coffee from me back in the late 90s and asked me about the badge on my shirt so I explained to him who The Pastels were, which was rad.

Only awkward because he was always my favorite skater and you know how that goes.

[Ianizyeah]

When I was like 13-14 Kyle Berard, Gailea Momulu and Chris Haslam showed up at the Kettering skate plaza in Ohio my dad drove me like 4 hours to to skate. Kyle berard was super drunk or gone on something and I asked him to play skate and beat him. I ran up to my dad super excited after and told him I beat a pro skater in skate (as if he’d know what that was) and he just furrowed his brow and said “that’s a pro?”

You seem like a pro yourself. Kook Industries right?

[fredgallSOTY]

Arto came up to me and said hi, he obviously mistook me for some guy he knows, once he noticed it was kind of weird for a second but he played it cool.

idk why this shit is so funny to me

[Stalefishtofakie]

Monty Nolder used to skate this park in Ocala FL. He was a bastard to everyone. He was in his 20's and would power slide and hockey check 12 year olds. Everyone said he was mean because he was deaf.

[Craig Lutzka]

Met one of the GX dudes when I still lived in SF, I tried talking to him but I think he was super high, whether it was weed or acid, he acted like I wasn't there, so I'd assume the latter

He was just keeping it 1000.

[Mort Garson]

Okay here's a few:

I met Tony Hawk at a sandwich shop in like fourth grade. I was there with my mom and I was too shy to say anything, being a socially awkward charter school fourth grader. She actually said wassup to him sort of on my behalf, but like halfway through them talking I butted in and just introduced myself, pretty much cold off the bench. He was nice and ended up signing a bag of chips cause it was all I had. Ate the chips and kept the bag. Still got it somewhere I'm pretty sure. Met him again a couple years later and told him I met him at a sandwich shop. He asked me if I liked the sandwiches there, and I said yeah I guess they're pretty good. Thanks birdman.

Met Jamie Thomas on a bus to a rental car place while on a family trip to Oregon, I think this was sophomore year of high school. We were sitting across from each other both just sort of looking each other up and down, like I knew who he was and he knew that I knew who he was. After a minute of that I was kinda awkwardly like "hey you're Jamie Thomas right" and he said yeah, ended up chatting about Burnside and Jef Whitehead. Knowing who the latter was got me some street cred I guess? He told me I looked a little too wholesome to skate burnside and that I would need a couple more face tats. Very nice dude overall.

Was at a Rockridge sesh a few months back and Corey Duffel pulled up. He was just chillin doing slappies and eating a banana. I was waiting for my homie to pull up so I was mostly just lurking and doing slappy crooks. I got in his way and he apologized to me. Also very nice dude.

Wes Kremer "woo"-ed me once at poods. I don't even remember what I did, but remember thinking it probably wasn't worth a "woo" from a soty. Watching him skate in person is super funny cause he's mad fried and he'll miss a kickflip and then bust out some crazy steezy shit first try.

Went to high school with Tom Schaar. Didn't know him personally but we had lots of mutual friends. Surprisingly for someone that went to fame as quick as he did it didn't seem like it got to his head that much. He went to the house shows my band would play at and our guitar player bought him beer a few times.

[Trash_Eater]

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.