Skaters Who Aren't Jerks

[fredgallSOTY]

lets talk about some nice fellas 

Andrew Cannon is a sweetheart. Met him on a Saturday morning at LES when i was 7 and he was super cool and encouraging.

Tony Hawk was really cool to me. Pulled up at the DIY in Detroit outta nowhere and was rippin. He asked me if i knew how to do tailslides on the Arch, which was kind of insane as I was the worst skater at the park.

Ben Kadow and Sean Pablo were really nice, actually. Unexpectedly cool to me. I forgot that I met them for the longest time but I did.

this thread has 100% been done before but whatever, what are some sweet skaters yall have met?

[hot take]

Kenny Reed. Walked up to me when I was like 12 at an ipath demo and started talking to me and gave me stickers.

Obviously Fred Gall. He was at the same demo letting this little kid tase him.

[Sizzla]

Sizzla I met BA anna hear mi wen wha I seh him ah nice mon

Jah bless

[Mr.Jenkins]

Top of the list:

Matt Hensley. Chatted with him for an hour after a Flogging Molly show backstage. Met him after another gig 8 months later - he immediately recognised me by name and came and greeted me and chatted me up. Incredible humble.

Second one would go to Josh Kasper, surprised the hell out of me by being the coolest dude ever.

Grew up with a lot of the Sour dudes, was Josefs teacher at the skate gymansium in our town and me and Bj�(the founder) used to ride for the same shop team. Really nice dudes all over.

Jeron Wilson was hella nice too.

[SatanicPanic]

Never really met a pro who wasn’t nice. The other day Jeremy Wray answered my request for tips on one of his trick-a-day posts on Insta which I think is sort of IRL. Actual IRL Nora was super cool.

[PatrickSkateman]

This may need to be moved to 2021 Unpopular Opinions, but Kenny Anderson is one of the nicest I’ve met.

[S.]

I met willow a few years ago when he was still pro for almost. He was a super nice guy. We talked shit about energy drinks sponsors. He was sponsored by a Coca Cola energy drink at the time („relentless“?) and he said he only had ever tried one sip when he signed the contract and that it was such terrible Drink. At night we hung out at a friend‘s place and had some beers. We also talked about the video part he was filming at the time for transworld. He said he still needed an ender for the part and that he was going to try to laser flip the big set in cologne. He also said that it scared him and that he didn‘t really want to do it. It was pretty cool when I saw his part and he had gotten the trick. The link for the transworld part is down, but it is also the last trick of this best off clip:




I like that after he was done with his career he was very open about his mental health struggles and his stay at a psychiatric clinic. He has also talked in detail about how hard it is to make a living as a Skateboarder.

[veritas]

BA at his art show a few years ago humored me while I fanned out like a teenage girl

Mike Maldonado gave me a barely skated deck at a early 2000s red bull demo because there was gum or some shit in the griptape, still have it to this day

[Easy Slider]

I spent two weeks at Faelledparken in CPH in the Summers of 95 and 96 and one night Rune Glifberg and Nicky Guerrero turned up with a bunch of other guys and started skating and partying. Rune hit a beer bong and then immediately proceded to shred the halfpipe. I had nice legs and landed a beautiful Muska style frontside flip over the funbox whereupon Nicky Guerrero rolled up and gave me props ("nice frontside flip, dude"). That was my proudest moment on a skateboard.

Side note (off topic): It was also one of these summers (I believe it was 95) when the whole Flip team demoed Faelledparken and Penny did the switch flip behind the tree on that super steep bank, which you can see in Menikmati.

[theSketchLord]

I interviewed
Necklace.
Steve Olsen
Jerry Hsu
Matt Pritchard
and they were all rad.
Dan Cates got back to me really quickly as well recently.

[Chana]

Julian Davidson, Sinner, and Terry Kennedy both have approached me at the skatepark to say what's up and ask about a trick I was trying. TK said "God Bless you" like 10x

[bigbevev]

Julian davidson, matt bennett, nick trapasso, Ishod.

On the flipside, leo romero and jon dixson made me feel weird despite greeting them as i would anyone else.

[Paperclip20]

Met Walker Ryan at a Zumiez contest where he was a guest. Incredibly friendly with everyone who wanted to talk to him and answered some questions about the old friends video they were putting out soon after that. One of the 13/14ish year old kids were asking him a bunch of questions about what it's like getting boxes of product and he handled it really well. Also ended up staying at least an hour or two after the event was done just to skate which was awesome. Nate greenwood was there as well and was a pretty nice mellow guy

[Silky Johnson]

Matt Miller was cool to me and my shit head friends at a dgk demo about 10 years ago. He ended up giving his complete to some kid next to us in the crowd.

[friendly dave]

I met Omar Hassan at my local bar once. He offered to buy me a beer.

[IusedToSkateMore]

shetler and Westgate are nice dudes.

[piss joslin]

I met willow a few years ago when he was still pro for almost. He was a super nice guy. We talked shit about energy drinks sponsors. He was sponsored by a Coca Cola energy drink at the time („relentless“?) and he said he only had ever tried one sip when he signed the contract and that it was such terrible Drink. At night we hung out at a friend‘s place and had some beers. We also talked about the video part he was filming at the time for transworld. He said he still needed an ender for the part and that he was going to try to laser flip the big set in cologne. He also said that it scared him and that he didn‘t really want to do it. It was pretty cool when I saw his part and he had gotten the trick. The link for the transworld part is down, but it is also the last trick of this best off clip:




I like that after he was done with his career he was very open about his mental health struggles and his stay at a psychiatric clinic. He has also talked in detail about how hard it is to make a living as a Skateboarder.

forgot about willow. guy was monster! didn't he bigspin wallenberg? whatever became of him?
todd prince is a prince.

[fakiefs180]

Chris Haslam. Met him actually by accident a few times when he was in Berlin over the years. Always nice and positive and kinda shy.

Michi Mackrodt, also always very friendly.

[ok boomer]

of the dudes I have met, most were pretty cool:
Jason Lee, Mullen, Ron Chatman, Mark "The Gonz" Gonzales, Tony Hawk, Lance Conklin, Cab, Hosoi, Bill Danforth, Billy Ruff, Neil Blender, Peanut Brown, Chris Miller, Danny Way, Eric Dressen, Natas, Mariano, Bertino, Sanchez, Rudy Johnson were all good.

The best were Danforth, Miller, Peanut & Jason Lee. Hung out with Danforth, Miller & Peanut for a week of skate camp in 87. Jason Lee, saw 2 or 3 demos of - the last one, he showed up at the local mall afterwards and asked us where the music store was so he could buy tapes. We felt cool that he recognized us as skaters and asked us. We were 14 so this is okay

Mike V was the only pro I met that acted lame.

[braindrill]

Ed Templeton was really cool and took time out from a very busy art show to chat with me and my friend, even though we were insufferable 20 year old dorks.  Took photos with us.

Haslam, Hassan, Gonz, Schaaf - all nice.

[kwjeter]

Fabrizio Santos, coolest dude. Ended up having a session with him at an indoor park. high 5s and hugs after words, pushed each other on trying a few tricks.

Jordan Hoffart, humble ripper will remember you after first meeting.

TK, ran into him about a year after baker 3 at a skatepark that was mostly transition, really mellow and nice at the time.

Cab, been lucky enough to skate with him a handful of times and he a good dude.

Shuriken

 

[FlatBeat]

Haslam was always super chill. He was a skate rat at heart and even when he blew up he always felt like a local. Very modest.

Paul Machnau used to say hey to us when we were groms, sit with us, shoot the shit. Never got a sense of ego from him despite him rolling up to the park in a new BMW.

Rick McCrank is as nice as everyone thinks he is.

[HeavyLow]

Played skate against Pat Duffy not that long ago. Super chill and nice. Was surreal.

[S.]

Expand Quote

I met willow a few years ago when he was still pro for almost. He was a super nice guy. We talked shit about energy drinks sponsors. He was sponsored by a Coca Cola energy drink at the time („relentless“?) and he said he only had ever tried one sip when he signed the contract and that it was such terrible Drink. At night we hung out at a friend‘s place and had some beers. We also talked about the video part he was filming at the time for transworld. He said he still needed an ender for the part and that he was going to try to laser flip the big set in cologne. He also said that it scared him and that he didn‘t really want to do it. It was pretty cool when I saw his part and he had gotten the trick. The link for the transworld part is down, but it is also the last trick of this best off clip:




I like that after he was done with his career he was very open about his mental health struggles and his stay at a psychiatric clinic. He has also talked in detail about how hard it is to make a living as a Skateboarder.

[close]

forgot about willow. guy was monster! didn't he bigspin wallenberg? whatever became of him?
todd prince is a prince.

He had a burnout depression/panic disorder, which he partially attributed to his unhealthy life as professional skateboarder. He quit most of his sponsors. He wrote a book about his life with a ghost writer. He also started to make art and furniture out of old decks. He started his own company called willows world. he still skates and has a few German sponsors. Check his insta. @willow

[Welpok]

Caswell Berry is for the people. I was sitting down at my local park one day and he and the the krux guys pulled up. He came up to my friend and I and introduced him self and shook our hands. He didn't mind that we were fanning out. Had more encounters with him after that day randomly catching him at street spots. Gave me props for a front blunt I did on a table top. Always stoked on the guy 

[Welpok]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

I met willow a few years ago when he was still pro for almost. He was a super nice guy. We talked shit about energy drinks sponsors. He was sponsored by a Coca Cola energy drink at the time („relentless“?) and he said he only had ever tried one sip when he signed the contract and that it was such terrible Drink. At night we hung out at a friend‘s place and had some beers. We also talked about the video part he was filming at the time for transworld. He said he still needed an ender for the part and that he was going to try to laser flip the big set in cologne. He also said that it scared him and that he didn‘t really want to do it. It was pretty cool when I saw his part and he had gotten the trick. The link for the transworld part is down, but it is also the last trick of this best off clip:




I like that after he was done with his career he was very open about his mental health struggles and his stay at a psychiatric clinic. He has also talked in detail about how hard it is to make a living as a Skateboarder.

[close]

forgot about willow. guy was monster! didn't he bigspin wallenberg? whatever became of him?
todd prince is a prince.

[close]

He had a burnout depression/panic disorder, which he partially attributed to his unhealthy life as professional skateboarder. He quit most of his sponsors. He wrote a book about his life with a ghost writer. He also started to make art and furniture out of old decks. He started his own company called willows world. he still skates and has a few German sponsors. Check his insta. @willow

Thank you all for sharing all this. I always wondered where Willow was at. He was one of my favorites.

[ok boomer]

I missed the Wild Ride Emerica tour in uhh 06 or 07 (due to partying out of town) but I hear everyone was pretty cool on that one. I know a lot of locals were on Leo's nuts after that demo because he was "so cool" etc. Heath apparently was pretty quiet. I also heard that Braydon was pretty nice on that also. I'm speaking for my friend that does not Slap, that told me all of this.

[Mantracker]

Third guy to say Haslam. He was cheering everyone on after every trick they landed and gave me props for a 270 over a hip

he showed up 3 hours early to skate the park with the kids before the demo. unreal

Also Wade Desarmo is probably the nicest human ever.

[cky enthusiast]

i was working as a messenger in nyc and was  licking my bike up in soho and gonz was talkin with some
dude on the sidewalk. as i’m locking up gonz remarked on my thigh tattoo (it’s from a bobby worrest graphic he drew) and we talked about it for a little. he asked for my name and then shook my hand and said “my names mark” and then walked away

[S.]

Caswell Berry is for the people. I was sitting down at my local park one day and he and the the krux guys pulled up. He came up to my friend and I and introduced him self and shook our hands. He didn't mind that we were fanning out. Had more encounters with him after that day randomly catching him at street spots. Gave me props for a front blunt I did on a table top. Always stoked on the guy

I second that! More then ten years ago the enjoi team came to my town and skated a Demo at our terrible prefab park. Caswell killed it the hardest. He also threw up during the demo  chugged a beer right after and continued making all his tricks. Later that day I met the team at a local street spot. They were super nice and it felt like skating with any other skaters. I was really hyped and skated pretty well that day. Caswell pointed at me to some skaters and said “he‘s killing it!“ that made me so proud I think I blushed a little.