Skaters Who Aren't Jerks

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Leo Romero was incredibly nice when my friend and I met him at an Emerica demo. Very open and down to earth. Jerry was really nice but he seemed like he didn't have the knack of speaking to strangers like Leo did. Heath didn't talk to anyone at all but it didn't matter because seeing him skate was so cool. This was after his retirement as well so it was extra special.

[FlatBeat]

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.

Wade had a really good reputation at the plaza in vancouver. My friends used to fan out over him and he apparently never had a hint of attitude.

[coldbrew]

Kevin Taylor is the best dude.

[sometimeperhaps]

I saw Jed Anderson at a restaurant once. Didn’t say hello because I’m already awkward, and going up to someone in a small snug restaurant is even more awkward. But he said please and thank you’s and probably left a 15% tip at minimum.

I messaged him on IG like a man later and said what’s up and he was nice.

When I was 14 Mike Hastie signed my RDS hat at a contest. I remember being hyped so he was probably nice. I could imagine he was just trying to get some food or something at that point and probably didn’t wanna start signing shit, so I appreciate him being cool.

[TastyBurrito]

Page 2 and I haven't seen Justin Henry's name? He seems like a genuine dude.

Also, old school, but Willy Santos has always been chill. Met him a few times growing up. Always stoked to greet and talk to people.

[sus]

met Sean Sheffey at Poods park a little while back, he was super friendly even though he looks like he could fuck someone up super easily

I saw Tom Asta at a spot and he was also super friendly, very soft spoken dude.

Also met Taylor McClung at volcom park and he was super nice too, ended up talking with him a bit about his NB Tiagos he was wearing and he seemed super hyped on them. Mans also has one of the best nollie back heels i've seen

[Rubbrick]

I’ve met up with Chris Milic a few times, when he lived here in AZ. Sold me some of his original art for really cheap. A genuine, goofy and sweet person, like you would expect.

James Brockman was really nice. I saw him at memo park in San Diego. I had just hurt my hand earlier in the week and he ask me about it and was very empathetic.

I’ve seen Wes Kremer around a few times, he’s always been really chill. I ran into him at the beach and asked if I wanted to smoke a doobie, but I was sober at the time.

That Reuben kid from One in a million came by my local shop and we skated the box out in front together. I briefly talked with him about Forrest Edwards and he only had positive things to say about him (despite Forrest being a dickhead to him). He’s a sweetheart.

Jun Saito went to the same college that I did and would always skate PQ park (still does). He’s super humble would always keep to himself. Seeing that kid skate in person is unreal.

Willy Santos would also come by PQ park a bunch and hook up the locals. He would bring his kids to skate around sometimes, and seems like a great dad. 

Walker Ryan and Kelley Hart randomly showed up at a diy park that I was skating. They “yewed” and gave me props when I landed a trick that I was trying forever, even though it was mediocre. I was pretty young at the time, and I’ll never forget how good that made me feel.

B Turner would come into my local shop at the time to sell boards to the shop for cheap. This was a few years back when he wasn’t at his best. He would always make sure to say what’s up to every single person in the shop, which I thought was rad.

My friends dad was doing some business stuff with Matt Price. I got to eat burritos with him and got to skate the Blackbox park for a bit with him. He’s super funny and easy to be around. Also randomly got to meet Grant Britain that day, but I was too nervous to say anything but “hi.”

[froufroufox]

BA, Clive Dixon, Spanky, Rowan, and Guy Mariano are the nicest pros I’ve met. Reynolds is a bit more serious but also super friendly.

[Uncle Guss]

Daniel Lutheran once complemented me on a tre flip and said i had sick style. still reeling from that ~4yrs later. Seemed super chill tho, hed be tapping his board and getting genuinely hype when kids would land even pretty basic shit.

[Vomit Lust]

Cardiel and Barbee were as cool and mellow as I would’ve expected. Only met them briefly, but having two heroes be cool for a little while just cemented their legacies to me personally.

Bill Danforth was rad too. I’d heard he was a grumpy fucker beforehand, but he wasn’t at all. Hung out a few times through a mutual friend in Chicago he’d come to hang out with when he was still living in Detroit. He’s a bit older than us but he just jumped right in to the crew and was cool as hell. Just seemed to be looking to skate, drink some beers, and have fun and didn’t look down on any of us dudes who never had any kind of spotlight. Not an industry snob like some older cats. He did go on a little bit of “Tony Hawk has no style” rant one night, as this was when THPS was first blowing up, but he wasn’t bitter. Just stating it like an indisputable fact from an eyewitness. And he was there for some amazing skating and music so he’s got a cool story or two.

[Lowcalcium]

Dead Dave

[Mantracker]

Expand Quote

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.

[close]

Wade had a really good reputation at the plaza in vancouver. My friends used to fan out over him and he apparently never had a hint of attitude.

For sure, he's the most humble. I was skating Loft in toronto a while back after hours with some friends who brought me. He went out of his way to come up to me and introduce himself during what would normally be his session. I'll never forget that

[FatGuy92]

I met Muska at Huf SF when the Skytop 2 came out. He was super friendly and shit despite me being super nervous kid, barely saying a word staring at my feet the whole time. I had to stick around after closing to wait for a ride and he came out to shoot the shit a little. I still didn't say much but I really appreciated the effort.

Not sure if this counts but I also met Darryl Angel of all people at my local and he was super mellow. This was before I knew anything about the shit he did (this was maybe 2017 ish).

[Nosebleed-section]

Jonny Layton was very nice to me once and Kevin kowalski made me and all my friends waffles

[spungo]

Once I did a blunt fakie on a shitty quarterpipe and Puleo gave me props cause the tranny was, as he said to me, "tighter than a virgin pussy".  I don't know if that makes him not a jerk but the fact that he talked to me gives me Slap cred.  Therefore hes a nice guy

[skrub]

I was at some thing at the Berrics for Tony Hawk and Chris Cole was there so I asked him a question and he talked to me for a really long time, like I was the only one there, just super sincere and talking about spots in my town, and where he'd skated. It was literally like if you were in the airport and saw someone with a skateboard and started talking because you were both bored, like an actual conversation, not humoring a fan. At least it felt like that to me.

Tony Hawk was totally pleasant, but you could tell he wasn't super engaged. (And that is not a knock on him -- he's obviously a good person, but how many fucking stupid fan conversations does he have a year and he had to say hi to like 200 people in a row who didn't really skateboard said things like "you're tony hawk" or "what was it like to do the 900.")

[IUTSM]

Once I did a blunt fakie on a shitty quarterpipe and Puleo gave me props cause the tranny was, as he said to me, "tighter than a virgin pussy".  I don't know if that makes him not a jerk but the fact that he talked to me gives me Slap cred.  Therefore hes a nice guy

that's pure gold.

[quesly]

Once I did a blunt fakie on a shitty quarterpipe and Puleo gave me props cause the tranny was, as he said to me, "tighter than a virgin pussy".  I don't know if that makes him not a jerk but the fact that he talked to me gives me Slap cred.  Therefore hes a nice guy

that seems like the perfect length of talking to Bobby Puleo

[drewSTEADMAN]

Daniel Haney & Jerry Fowler & Kenny Anderson

[cky enthusiast]

Daniel Haney & Jerry Fowler & Kenny Anderson

hi! welcome to the slap forum

[Judas prius]

Ran into Bobby worrest one night at my old local bar and we got drunk and talked just about everything in life for a few hours.

[Matze]

In 98 the DVS team had a demo and I asked Keenan to sign my Dallas jersey I got on sale. He refused first because it was ‘too nice’. My English wasn’t good and I thought he just didn’t like it. Anyway, he was super friendly and me just insecure.

Talked to Muska on the same evening after he had to run from the crowd in videoradio. He was super cool to us kids.

Haven’t met too many pros in my skate life but these two have been legendary and very positive.
 

[The Big Dawg]

BA for sure. I was working at a CCS store in the mall and we had a Nike signing. BA noticed a kid with super ripped up shoes and bought him a pair of shoes on the spot.

I ran into John Cardiel at the Burbank airport once, we had the same outfit on. I couldn’t not go up to him, he was super cool. He walked with me from our gate to baggage claim. He said he was in town because Mike Carroll invited him to the Skate 3 release party.

[1121317]

Madars Apse. Me and my homies invited him to ride with us and check the city out. We also smoked with him and I gotta say, he’s hands down the best person I know that rolls. Gotta give it to Madars he’s really good at rolling joints. After we dropped him off to his hotel he even gave me his old board and a bunch of stickers. All around nice guy and tall as fuck

[DaleSr]

met Sean Sheffey at Poods park a little while back, he was super friendly even though he looks like he could fuck someone up super easily

Sheffey is the best dude ever. Him getting sober caused a huge change in his life and he is straight up zen now. I used to see him all the time at Alga when i worked near there and he'd always talk like we're old friends. Shef is a king

[TheLurper]

Gosha Koneyshev, Yura Renov, Stas Provotorov, and Marty Murawski are all pros I'll back as solid dudes.

Also, Jason Adams seems like an all around good dude. I had lunch with him for interview that sadly never ran (PS 118 went under before we could run it) and he seemed like a great dude.

Also, Will Blaty isn't pro, but he is a great dude as well.

[Trashcon]

I've talked about this before but Daewon Song is the nicest skater I have ever met. I've been fortunate to be able to meet a lot of skaters and industry people. By far, he has been the nicest. Very down to earth and easy to talk to. I met him at an éS Game of Skate around 2002 or so in Escondido, California. After Decca folded and before Almost was announced. I was in the parking lot with my older brother. My brother spotted him driving in and just sitting in his car. It was a nice Explorer. Black. I walked up to his car and greeted him. He got out and asked how the game of skate was going, my day, skate related stuff, etc. I asked him about Decca and fanned out on 2nd to None. He was very grateful for the praise. He asked about my set up. He went to his trunk and pulled out a ridiculous amount of gear. World Industries deck, DVS stickers and accessories, Matix stickers, hats, shirts, etc. I kid you not, it was a ridiculous amount of stuff. He told me that I didn't look like a World Industries kid but to hook up my friends, his exact words were "hook up your friends like Daewon did." I'll never forget. He also told me that he was working on something new with Rodney and to keep my eyes peeled for it. About six months later or so, Almost was announced. Bet your ass everyone of my friends got something. Thanks Daewon!

[Crislerheaven]

Not my encounter but my close homie met Max Palmer and apparently Max actually approached him and had a mini conversation. He was so nice apparently that my friend told me he suspected that Max confused him for someone else and not just some random dude passing through the spot.

[I_Respect_Wood]

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

Came to say the same, super nice guy, met him in a Contest in Berlin, we chat a lot that day and gave a bunch of Back forty stickers. More than a year later, came to Buenos Aires in the one star tour recognized me and ask me to walk with him to the van, and when no one was watching he gave more back forty stickers and let me choose between two hats to pick one for me.


Madars is a cool guy too, also Nick Garcia who was talking with me about how fucked up will be USA after the Trump Winning.

[keepthefunkalive]

All my friends who I skate with aren't jerks, so I got that goin for me