Skaters Who Aren't Jerks

[lazer69]

Pros ive encountered in person multiple times and are really nice dudders: Sewa, Lizard, mickey papa. PJ gives props even for basic tricks.


One offs:

Tom K i met once, he was nice, we connected on our cultural background. Muska is so cool, and energetic. Chico, Kenny. Torey, would love to meet him again. Daewon was awesome also.

[ballintoohard]

Brian Delatorre is really nice. Met him a few times at the courthouse and the first time he struck up conversation about dogs and other life things. The second time he actually remembered my name like 2 months later and I'm not good enough at skating to actually remember.

BA was rad the several times I met him from ~99 onwards (probably twice per board sponsor).

Karl. Chico. KA.

[GoldenGateHeights]

Reese Forbes
Brian Anderson
Frank Gerwer
Chico Brenes

[Petes friend Slimer]

Hello brothers and sisters

I think this is a great thread and we should celebrate skaters that bring a little more love to the world..and to us! Keep it going.

I would like to acknowlwdge the kindness of;

James Craig (holla if ya hear me!) - as many of you know James is the salt of the earth. I hosted a museum exhibit years ago and cold called dwindle hoping to borrow some re-pops for the Early 90's section. He could not have been nicer or any kinder. He made arrangements and shipped what he could out. Thank you James - I'm forever grateful (same for McKee...just so kind)

Justin Strubing - I was invited to a contest after party and a couple of skate bros started beefing and getting super agressive with each other. Justin didn't know either hothead, but walked over and calmed both down and got them to go their seperate ways. He was gentle, spoke calmly and kept two strangers from bashing each other. Wow! Thank you Justin.

Finally, a recent contact with Zach Moldof. If you don't know Zach or his Stokemuch project...please do yourself a favour and look him up. He's giving back to the skate community in very meaningful ways. I don't know him and have only communicated briefly during email. But he's giving back and spreading our gospel. Thank you Zach.

[fulfillthedream]

Living in LA/ SF Bay area and now Guangzhou China ive come across a fair amount of pro/sponsored skaters. Some  off the top

Karl Watson - Met him many times during my 4-5 years in the East Bay. super nice to everyone, doesn't care who you are - he interacts with everyone at the session.

Keegan Sauder - Saw him at berkeley park and discussed his trick at that park in his Strange World part- we talked about the song he used and he was stoked on my educational journey and how i still skated while working/studying.

I had a very similar thing with Corey Duffel too. He came to the Peace wall Park in Berkeley with a broken leg and hella product to give out. Was super stoked too about how i still skated while i was in college.


I know SLAP will hate but I came across Biebel here in China and he was super, like very extra nice to all the locals.. some one on the same tour said that he does this purposely in foreign countries and isn't that chill while doing demos/signings in the US.. this was in 2016 while he was still fully on Girl, Lakai etc.

Adelmo Jr. I came across him and like 20 other Brazilian skaters from their shoe sponsor here in China. Again super nice and respectful to all the locals, random passerbys, security etc. He's rasta and follows the Ital diet and was super prepared and knew where to go to fit his diet in a country like China thats got  extensive dietary choices. (ive seen people who are veg.vegan come here unprepared and FREAK out). He was also super interested in hearing my journey on why i came to live abroad.. Chopped up about his video parts etc. Super nice guy

[stephop]

Donny Barley is super chill.

[elbarto]

Danny Garcia spent like 20 minutes doing varial heels with me until I landed one when I was 12 or 13. Gravette is also the best dude ever. Joey Pepper gave me a burrito he had bought for Silas one time cause I happened to get to their park before him lol. (I wasn’t meeting them but was showing up to the park to help tear it down and take some stuff home for my driveway).

[TheLurper]

Almost forgot, Jamal Smith seems like a great dude as well. I ended up working some skate event a few years ago (just pushing garbage cans around and sweeping the floor and shit) and I ended up bullshitting with him for like 30 minutes when I was on a break/had nothing to do. There is a photo of us standing next to each other while some dude in the event does some gnarly trick (although the photo used wasn't the make... Jamal left before the make). Dude seemed super chill and smart.

Also, I'd see Wade DesArmo at DunBat park in Toronto every now and again. I never really spoke to him, but I remember him always being friendly. And, I remember when Girl came through town to do a demo Wade sat in audience supporting the dudes on Girl. It is a small thing, but it was cool to see him just come out to support them and watch.

[Gab]

Cardiel, janoski, Brian Anderson, Kyle leeper, matt Rodriguez, Matt pailes, Kelly hart, fabrizio santos, Karl Watson, Daniel shimizu, caswell, Gerwer and yes even Brandon Biebel were all very nice.

Not so nice - Henry Sanchez

[DarkPools]

Jeron Wilson, PRod (my encounter was a simple photo and short conversation, he was a good sport about it on his way out of this spot), Kenny Anderson, Kelly Hart, Cody McEntire (years ago), Sewa, McCrank, Guy Mariano (post FF), Caswell Berry is fucking good people (ran into him twice and he remembered me, so sick! and I'm sure many others.


Koston (in my personal encounter with him) was not a jerk, but I'm sure he's been a jerk elsewhere from Slap's take on him. Was filming a trick for Chronicles 3 and I offered wax I had with me to maybe help him out and he quipped back with something about needing pop to get on to this fence rail. We both laughed about it (it was funny) and he resumed his attempts. Later on, got a photo with him and asked him about how he came across my local school to skate and how he has gone there for years. Good conversation and didn't feel uncomfortable to chat. Also kicked a homie some lightly used Lost Art Blazer Lows. Turns out he's a size 11. Same as me. Lol

[chomperz]

Templeton. At a Toy Demo 15 years ago during the session, I was sitting under a canopy that our local had set up outside the park. Ed came over and initiated a conversation with me, grabbed a marker and a shirt and just started drawing. At the end of our conversation he gave me the shirt. He also saw that my younger brother had the most beat board in the park, grabbed a board designated for the product toss and gave it to him.

TL;DR Ed is down to earth and super humble

[DaleSr]

Danny Garcia spent like 20 minutes doing varial heels with me until I landed one when I was 12 or 13. Gravette is also the best dude ever. Joey Pepper gave me a burrito he had bought for Silas one time cause I happened to get to their park before him lol. (I wasn’t meeting them but was showing up to the park to help tear it down and take some stuff home for my driveway).

Can confirm, smoked a joint with him behind black plague when he was guest bartending there.

Also Clay Kreiner super nice dude
Chris Gregson, also very cool dude. Pretends to remember me because i see him around all the time

[Oaf]

I had a Hensley poster on the wall for basically my entire childhood.  Went to a warped tour and had no idea he was in flogging molly.  I recognized him, and went to their booth.  I fanned out hard and he stuck his hand out to shake.  I had taken an errant elbow in the nose earlier and was covered in my own dried blood so I tried to decline.  He insisted on shaking my bloody hand.  The guy is a stand up gentleman.

[McDuff]

Met the enjoi team, they did a demo, my friends and I left a bit early to skate a spot across the street, they showed up and asked if they could skate with us. All very polite. Clark and Jose were filing (bag of suck) and caswell just sat with us and watched. Nicest guy ever. Hilarious as well.

Kerry Getz, Maldonado, Pete Eldridge all personable and nice. I bought Pete’s adidas color way from a shop my friend worked at, I left, 2min later some of the adidas (I think) showed up to the shop, my friend told him I had bought his shoe 2min ago and he ran out of the shop and screamed, “thanks homie!”. I did not hear him.

I was at the aforementioned skate shop, street league was in town, BA and Brad staba came in, we decided to go to the bar across the street, golf was on tv, my friend and I golf as does Brad, I said to my friend, “damn, we should have gotten tickets...”, the event was literally 3 miles from where we were, Brad overheard and literally got on the phone with Nike and tried to get us all tickets for the next day. Dude was very nice and hilarious. Also, me and BA were smoking outside, I walked across the street to throw away my cigarette and he gave me props for not littering. Always been hyped on that.

Last one... I was in Philly, went to the front st (under the bridge) spot, there was a ledge into bank, it was like 7am, someone apparently took like a sledgehammer to the thing, it was pretty fucked up, but skateable, my friend and I filed a couple things and we were sitting watching the clips, this red pickup comes flying toward the spot, stops short, and Ricky gets out, dude was yelling at us like, “WTF!? You guys fucked this ledge up!?” We told him we’re skating it, why would we fuck it up...? Then he became a nice guy, introduced himself and we talked for a bit...

[Eggie Vedder]

I played Josh Kalis in a game of skate when I was about 10 or 11. I couldn’t even kickflip so he just did ollies and 180s so that I could match. He “fell” on a half cab so I could get him an S. After a while he said he had to forfeit because the demo was starting. After the demo I saw him play Stevie Williams in a game of skate and they both did the most incredible switch tres back to back and my mind was blown. This was maybe 2001.

[RichardBarkley]

I played Josh Kalis in a game of skate when I was about 10 or 11. I couldn’t even kickflip so he just did ollies and 180s so that I could match. He “fell” on a half cab so I could get him an S. After a while he said he had to forfeit because the demo was starting. After the demo I saw him play Stevie Williams in a game of skate and they both did the most incredible switch tres back to back and my mind was blown. This was maybe 2001.

These are all good but this one is amazing.

Imagine playing Kalis

[Far from relevant]

 skaters ive met in person that were friendly

Jamie Thomas
Rick Mccrank
Stevie Perez
Zered Basset
Jordan Trahan
Dick Rizzo
Chachi

Pretty drunk for some of these interactions, none the less I don't think I've never had a negative personal interaction with a pro. However haven't had much exposure at the same time.

[BroBruhBra]

Expand Quote

I played Josh Kalis in a game of skate when I was about 10 or 11. I couldn’t even kickflip so he just did ollies and 180s so that I could match. He “fell” on a half cab so I could get him an S. After a while he said he had to forfeit because the demo was starting. After the demo I saw him play Stevie Williams in a game of skate and they both did the most incredible switch tres back to back and my mind was blown. This was maybe 2001.

[close]

These are all good but this one is amazing.

Imagine playing Kalis

Kalis is the finest wine in skateboarding.

[RichardBarkley]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

I played Josh Kalis in a game of skate when I was about 10 or 11. I couldn’t even kickflip so he just did ollies and 180s so that I could match. He “fell” on a half cab so I could get him an S. After a while he said he had to forfeit because the demo was starting. After the demo I saw him play Stevie Williams in a game of skate and they both did the most incredible switch tres back to back and my mind was blown. This was maybe 2001.

[close]

These are all good but this one is amazing.

Imagine playing Kalis

[close]

Kalis is the finest wine in skateboarding.

Ha

For sure!

C� du Kalis

[Szechuan]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

I played Josh Kalis in a game of skate when I was about 10 or 11. I couldn’t even kickflip so he just did ollies and 180s so that I could match. He “fell” on a half cab so I could get him an S. After a while he said he had to forfeit because the demo was starting. After the demo I saw him play Stevie Williams in a game of skate and they both did the most incredible switch tres back to back and my mind was blown. This was maybe 2001.

[close]

These are all good but this one is amazing.

Imagine playing Kalis

[close]

Kalis is the finest wine in skateboarding.

[close]

Ha

For sure!

C� du Kalis

Would that make Shanahan a Sommelier?

[bsfive-obs180]

Ishod- He lived in the same apartment building as me when i lived in philly back in 2010ish. He was always really friendly and asked for my number so we could skate sometime. My dumbass wasn't skating at that time (college, girlfriend and too much weed) but whenever i would run into him he was always cool. I once saw him walk out of the apartment building, get on his board and do the butteriest treflip over a sewage grate in the middle of traffic on the 13th st in downtown philly. I'll never forget that, it was so fuckin effortless.

Dave Bachinsky - saw him at garvanza when i lived in CA. The park was empty except for Dave and a few of his homies. Nicest fucking dude ever, he introduced himself and we all had a rad fuckin session. He is also the most consistent skater i have ever seen in person hands down.

Eric Ellington -I used to see him at noho park. He was such a nice dude and would strike up conversation with me when i would see him.

Reynolds - I would also see him at noho. He asked if i had a tool one time - I gave him a spitfire T- tool and was like what brand is this? i told him spitfire and he seemed so shocked he was like oh shit ive never seen this one before. I remember thinking dude you ride for spitfire haha. He's a bit more on the quiet side but very nice and when I would see him at the park he would say what up and usually ask to use my tool.

Reynolds also gave me a free board back in 2002 while he visited my home town for the kids in emerica tour. Still have that to this day.  I was standing on the side walk and he came up to me and some other kid and said i'm thinking of a number between 1-10 if you get the number right ill give you the board. I said 7 and he immediately handed me the board. Sucks for the other kid though his memory of that day must suck

P-Rod- I used to go to Sheldan park in sun valley in the mornings. A lot of times P-rod and Shane would be there, I was going through some pretty gnarly back issues at the time and asked P-Rod if he had any advice. (I had seen a video which he talks about how he recovered from some pretty bad injuries) We talked for a good ten 10 minutes, he was super genuine and he did most of the talking which made me feel good cause i didn't wanna talk his ear off. Shane was also really nice in passing I never really striked up any convo with him but watching him skate in person was a treat

[Yonnycage]

Expand Quote

I played Josh Kalis in a game of skate when I was about 10 or 11. I couldn’t even kickflip so he just did ollies and 180s so that I could match. He “fell” on a half cab so I could get him an S. After a while he said he had to forfeit because the demo was starting. After the demo I saw him play Stevie Williams in a game of skate and they both did the most incredible switch tres back to back and my mind was blown. This was maybe 2001.

[close]

These are all good but this one is amazing.

Imagine playing Kalis

Ck1 did and fuckin wrecked his ass

[joaopedro]

Alex carolino, coolest dude ever, pure skate rat, still skating a lot, very humble and positive with everyone!

[yapple dapple]

Living in LA/ SF Bay area and now Guangzhou China ive come across a fair amount of pro/sponsored skaters. Some  off the top

Karl Watson - Met him many times during my 4-5 years in the East Bay. super nice to everyone, doesn't care who you are - he interacts with everyone at the session.

Keegan Sauder - Saw him at berkeley park and discussed his trick at that park in his Strange World part- we talked about the song he used and he was stoked on my educational journey and how i still skated while working/studying.

I had a very similar thing with Corey Duffel too. He came to the Peace wall Park in Berkeley with a broken leg and hella product to give out. Was super stoked too about how i still skated while i was in college.


I know SLAP will hate but I came across Biebel here in China and he was super, like very extra nice to all the locals.. some one on the same tour said that he does this purposely in foreign countries and isn't that chill while doing demos/signings in the US.. this was in 2016 while he was still fully on Girl, Lakai etc.

Adelmo Jr. I came across him and like 20 other Brazilian skaters from their shoe sponsor here in China. Again super nice and respectful to all the locals, random passerbys, security etc. He's rasta and follows the Ital diet and was super prepared and knew where to go to fit his diet in a country like China thats got  extensive dietary choices. (ive seen people who are veg.vegan come here unprepared and FREAK out). He was also super interested in hearing my journey on why i came to live abroad.. Chopped up about his video parts etc. Super nice guy

Keegan is super nice and down to earth. His trick selection is is art on the eyes. Last time I talked to him he was getting his degree at UCDavis.

[I HATE WHERE I LIVE]

willy akers. nicest man  ive ever met.  havent seen him in years though. far away
austin stephens
leo romero

[elbarto]

Expand Quote

Danny Garcia spent like 20 minutes doing varial heels with me until I landed one when I was 12 or 13. Gravette is also the best dude ever. Joey Pepper gave me a burrito he had bought for Silas one time cause I happened to get to their park before him lol. (I wasn’t meeting them but was showing up to the park to help tear it down and take some stuff home for my driveway).

[close]

Can confirm, smoked a joint with him behind black plague when he was guest bartending there.

Also Clay Kreiner super nice dude
Chris Gregson, also very cool dude. Pretends to remember me because i see him around all the time

Yooo Clay Kreiner is the man! Smoked a spliff with him and Chris Russel and TJ Rogers, all solid funny ass dudes.

[Petes friend Slimer]

Canadian's are notoriously nice. Does the same hold true in skateboarding?

[Ziad]

me sometimes

[Madam, I'm Adam]

I read somewhere that Matt Beach went out of his way to help elderly women cross the street if they needed help. That's pretty cool.

[Gnatpant]

I randomly ran into Ronnie creager in a Best Buy when I was visiting my grandma in AZ and he was super nice.

Max Schaaf was really cool at the skatepark of Austin demo.

I used to live in the same town with Cody mice tire and that dude was the best he was pretty much cool to everyone.