First experience seeing a pro (?)

[PL0P]

I met Huf at a demo at Mr. Smalls in pittsburgh in like 02? I was 10 and was absolutely blown away he had a cell phone.
He signed a blind reaper hat that I still have. RIP.

[rocklobster]

I met Huf at a demo at Mr. Smalls in pittsburgh in like 02? I was 10 and was absolutely blown away he had a cell phone.
He signed a blind reaper hat that I still have. RIP.

24/9/2020 - coming up to a year since he passed

[CorneliusCardew]

I went to a demo at special sauce skate shop in Bayshore New York in the early to mid-1990s and had the opportunity to see the legend Armando Barajas in person.

[stillcantreflip]

skated with Wurzel (UK death box pro) waay back, he was trying to teach me newer deals on a mini, but I didn't have the balls to pivot back in.

whats a newer deal?

[ndsr]

I went to a demo at special sauce skate shop in Bayshore New York in the early to mid-1990s and had the opportunity to see the legend Armando Barajas in person.

Respect, Armando was one of my favorites growing up.  He was one of the founding fathers of Nollie tricks

[drcroc]

Before that guy Tyshawn won SOTY I saw him skating flat in NYC.

I had no idea he was pro or even known and texted my friend that day, "Hey some guy is doing waist high nollie inward heels at the flatground spot."

I also recognized another pro recently and he just asked me if I skated then kind of nodded and bounced.

I can see Why some pros don't want that interaction of some stranger holding them up in public and breaking down their video parts from 20 years ago so I get it.

[Peepeeboy69]

i saw Tom K after I got out of class. I stared super hard before just like yelling out r u tom k and he said yea and i just like fanned out. He looked annoyed and gave me a fist bump and skated away.

Then i saw suciu but i was too nervous to say hi so i just took a picture from far away and went to my next class

[cosmicgypsies]

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skated with Wurzel (UK death box pro) waay back, he was trying to teach me newer deals on a mini, but I didn't have the balls to pivot back in.

[close]

whats a newer deal?

i could be wrong as it's before my time but i believe new deal (blender trick) was a front truck pivot to disaster, newer deal was the same but no disaster so essentially a nosepick w no grab, and newest deal was the same as a newer deal but to fakie. if i'm wrong someone can correct.

[ramplocal]

Saw Joe lopes and Rob roskopp at a demo in NJ back in 88, they were so good, and as a kid I was star struck. In 93 -94 saw Tony Hawk in st louis for a shop demo, only thing I heard him say was "word" when another rider asked him a question. It was so cool to see a childhood hero in person.

[Gab]

Saw Chris senn at the first skatepark I ever went to. He was doing back 180 switch 5050 down the ledge/hubba on the pyramid, his board shot out and I ran after it and handed it back to him and he said thanks. Then my brother was like “dude that’s Chris Senn!” And I said “who the hell is Christen?”

[pro club blanks]

Saw sammy baptista a bunch of times around when i first started skating, dudes real laid back and always said what up

Mike Anderson and his crew gave my little bro props and said he had good style, always thought that was super dope since he was just starting to learn to skate transition at the time

[stephop]

Demo with Valley Ed Templeton and Dune in Newport RI 😁

[elbarto]

I was skating the Nike indoor in Portland. It was always a treat and of course there were all kinds of pros.  One particular day it was just a great session and this hippie looking fellow was just ripping and in a weird way just pumping up the entire vibe of the session.  On the drive home I say to my buddy that hippy looking dude rips.  My friend looks at me and says,  of course he rips that was Ethan fucking Fowler he’s a legend.  He proceeded to tell me when he feels like ripping it’s on, he felt like ripping that day!  I think it was right before he started bummer high.

Had so many sessions there with Mike Davis, Rest In Peace! Aesop Rock rolls there occasionally too. I missed out on skating with Gino by like 10 minutes once, bummed me out:(

[funeral_tuxedo]

My first time at a skate spot was in Boston at the Copley Fountain and I watched Robbie Gangemi fucking slaughter that place. I think he was doing backlips and nose manuals across the entire bottom ledge. That was my first time even skating with anyone and my second day riding a board at all so it was pretty crazy to see that dude go off. He skated fast. I was 12 years old.

[bob george]

First pros I saw were a very young Arto, Tosh and Chipper Walton {australian}. They were doing a demo at a surf comp for Rusty on a bitumen road with a few wooden ramps and maybe a ledge/box.

Arto crooked and back tailed a big industrial bin off a kicker which was pretty mind-blowing to me at the time to see in real life.

Then there was a product toss and it was pretty aggressive and intimidating to child me, so I went with my mum behind this fence that sort of barricaded us from the psycho surf kooks that were bashing each other for stickers and there was Arto sitting under a tree kind of hiding out too. He signed a yellow Rusty poster of him front boarding a big rail and made a big deal {not a huge deal, but he did mention it a few times} about how much he liked my name. My mum was chuffed that he liked my name and so was I.

I used to have a vhs of the demo that someone else from town filmed. It was kind of like my first skate video that I actually owned - used to watch it A LOT.

[ndsr]

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I was skating the Nike indoor in Portland. It was always a treat and of course there were all kinds of pros.  One particular day it was just a great session and this hippie looking fellow was just ripping and in a weird way just pumping up the entire vibe of the session.  On the drive home I say to my buddy that hippy looking dude rips.  My friend looks at me and says,  of course he rips that was Ethan fucking Fowler he’s a legend.  He proceeded to tell me when he feels like ripping it’s on, he felt like ripping that day!  I think it was right before he started bummer high.

[close]

Had so many sessions there with Mike Davis, Rest In Peace! Aesop Rock rolls there occasionally too. I missed out on skating with Gino by like 10 minutes once, bummed me out:(

I skated with Mike when he was a youngster, later in life his older sister was my banker/financial planner.  He used to roll with those guys from Armory skate shop I think.  The Billups brothers came up through that shop.  Beaverton/Hillsboro skaters low key crush.  Sorry you missed out on that Gino sesh!

[KGB]

I watched Tony hawk,Steve Caballero, Lance mountain and basically the Bones brigade session a 4" metal lipped curb at a gas station for their demo since there was nothing else to skate without getting busted in that town LOL

[chrisskates808]

First demo I went to was back in mid 2010 (was in eighth grade).  Got back into skating in 2010 but first demo I went to. Best experience in my first year back.

[EdLawndale]

I saw Chris Lambert and Lee Dupont skating at Tippy Top. They were real nice.

[HeavyLow]

Was lucky enough to time in Copenhagen Open, all by chance. The amount of speed pros have when doing just "regular ledge tricks" made me think twice about my own skateboarding.

[my english is bad]

Like 2004 baker come to PR in a local mal ,Jeff Lenoce was the best , a friend of my almost fight Evan Hernandes and Jin Greco is a fucking Kook

[WideFeet]

first one was around 2011 I think? I was living in Richmond and went into Venue to get a new deck, he was just sitting on the counter hanging out with whoever was working. I told him I was a fan and he thanked me really sincerely, then was showing me the sample of the Vans stage 4 he was wearing and telling me how he helped design it. Super nice guy. I bought a shop deck and he said "great choice." Saw him and some dudes a couple days later, they were coming to a spot as I was leaving, he recognized me and chatted with me for a bit again on my way out.

A couple years ago I saw Bobby Worrest at the whole foods in my neighborhood and he was also super cool but I didn't wanna bother him too much since we were both just getting groceries.

You didn’t mention a name in the first story

[maggot cunt]

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first one was around 2011 I think? I was living in Richmond and went into Venue to get a new deck, he was just sitting on the counter hanging out with whoever was working. I told him I was a fan and he thanked me really sincerely, then was showing me the sample of the Vans stage 4 he was wearing and telling me how he helped design it. Super nice guy. I bought a shop deck and he said "great choice." Saw him and some dudes a couple days later, they were coming to a spot as I was leaving, he recognized me and chatted with me for a bit again on my way out.

A couple years ago I saw Bobby Worrest at the whole foods in my neighborhood and he was also super cool but I didn't wanna bother him too much since we were both just getting groceries.

[close]

You didn’t mention a name in the first story

has to be special gilby

[Lou Strux]

I can’t recall precisely which happened first, but the first time I seen on a pro, outside of a contest, was either Tommy G. & Jim Thiebaud at the Willard School wall-ball courts in Berkeley, during the bones brigade days, or it might have been running into Ron Allen at the Oakland Tech banks.
In both cases I remember telling myself to shut up & play it cool, which was not easy for a young, high school grom.

[sk8n hugon]

Andy Howell in the early nineties at the height of New Deal popularity. Was a demo in South Florida at a surf shop called Fox in Lake Worth. There were a bunch of wood banks, boxes, and launch ramps in the parking lot. To be honest, a lot of the local guys were skating better than the demo guys. But what I remember most was how cool Andy Howell was. He sat on the curb and chatted with me and my friends for at least 10 minutes and drew us some little graffiti characters in a notebook. I kept those characters he drew for years and never intentionally discarded them. Was heartbroken when I couldn’t find them decades later.

[ThisFuckingDude]

Mike V in 2000 at this weird demo where he went to all the local parks.

[Chavo]

Gator and Krap Nek at a local shop. They were done skating when I got there and did not recognize them, other than they looked slightly older than the kids.

[Lucky_Basek]

Chad Ford ran a demo and comp at a local primary school in my suburb in 1988. I think he was pro. Zelko Kalac (Rip) may have been there too. My friend came 3rd and got a pack of stickers.

I think the first US pro I saw up close was Bill Pepper at Manly skate park. He was sitting in the carpark when we rolled up from the ferry. I gave him a sticker from this local record store and spray paint shop in the city. He stared at the sticker as if it was an inexplicable artefact from Persepolis or ancient Rome. One of friends said really loud so Bill Pepper could hear: 'I think the pro skater is the one who gives you the stickers, not the other way around'.

Then we saw Kareem Campbell and no longer cared so much about inscrutable Bill Pepper.

[Toadfish Rebecchi]

Chad Ford ran a demo and comp at a local primary school in my suburb in 1988. I think he was pro. Zelko Kalac (Rip) may have been there too. My friend came 3rd and got a pack of stickers.

I think the first US pro I saw up close was Bill Pepper at Manly skate park. He was sitting in the carpark when we rolled up from the ferry. I gave him a sticker from this local record store and spray paint shop in the city. He stared at the sticker as if it was an inexplicable artefact from Persepolis or ancient Rome. One of friends said really loud so Bill Pepper could hear: 'I think the pro skater is the one who gives you the stickers, not the other way around'.

Then we saw Kareem Campbell and no longer cared so much about inscrutable Bill Pepper.

Zelko! But his surname was Karacic. He had a board out through Skateboard World that Ray Ahn from The Hard-Ons drew.  Zelko Kalac was a goalkeeper/soccer player.

I was also at that Manly demo though. Such a good day.

[benboardbreaker]

In 95' Pontus Alv sometimes came over to Copenhagen from Malm�d skated the old Faelledparken. He was on Mad Circle and I was 13 years old and blown away to see him skate live. He slammed and for what ever reason that day my father was there and Pontus board went straight full speed in to my fathers heel. My old man got really pissed hahahaha. He should have his eyes open when standing there at the park. I was embarrassed that he got pissed and Pontus said sorry.