RIP James Hardy

[Freelancevagrant]

Gut wrenching and gone far too soon.
RIP Hoss.

[Gnarfunkell]

Rest In Peace

Reason to Believe was such a big part of my early influential years of skateboarding. "Planet... is that what you said??"

Truly heartbreaking to learn of James' passing, and my condolences to his friends and family. Gone way too soon.

[Shtonk]

Fuck. If this is due to his head injuries, should it not spark a push for accountability around brands and riders' health and a broader discussion wether helmets shouldn't be much more commonplace? Like is Mike Sinclair then really the right guy for his obituary when he's the rider-facing spokesperson for brands who have a history of grossly underpaying their riders but fostering a go big or go home culture on their teams?

I'd love to revisit the itvs where he speaks plainly about the darker sides of the industry, where can I find those? Thx

Thoughts are with his friends and family.

[RoughStylin]

Deeply saddening.

A genuine dude who seemed impossible to dislike.

Rest in peace to a good man. I’m bummed, man, very bummed.

[doyle]

Fuck. If this is due to his head injuries, should it not spark a push for accountability around brands and riders' health and a broader discussion wether helmets shouldn't be much more commonplace? Like is Mike Sinclair then really the right guy for his obituary when he's the rider-facing spokesperson for brands who have a history of grossly underpaying their riders but fostering a go big or go home culture on their teams?

I'd love to revisit the itvs where he speaks plainly about the darker sides of the industry, where can I find those? Thx

Thoughts are with his friends and family.

I don't think it's that simple, if anything it's quite the opposite, especially if you read his Heckride interview.



Devastating news, was always a huge fan of James Hardy and was a pleasure to see him skating again more recently. RIP.

[D10S]

This news is too sad. Condolences to his loved ones. Rest in power James, you are already missed!

[RoaryMcTwang]

This is terrible. Such a great skater, watched his Ride the Sky part often. Condolences to his loved ones. Rest in Peace.

[Theme For A Jackal]

Fuck. If this is due to his head injuries, should it not spark a push for accountability around brands and riders' health and a broader discussion wether helmets shouldn't be much more commonplace? Like is Mike Sinclair then really the right guy for his obituary when he's the rider-facing spokesperson for brands who have a history of grossly underpaying their riders but fostering a go big or go home culture on their teams?

I'd love to revisit the itvs where he speaks plainly about the darker sides of the industry, where can I find those? Thx

Thoughts are with his friends and family.

Throwing Sinclair under the bus as somehow being to blame here is low. No one can make helmets cool enough that any pro skater is going to wear them. If any discussion is to be had then it should be about health insurance and making sure people have the option and are encouraged to go to the doctor when head injuries happen.

[schralp pal]

Rip in peace, you were a big part of my skate journey.

that whole era of Real was one of kind and maybe we took it for granted a bit, that was the end of a certain way and attitude of skating.

[Braydon SanFransiski]

Fuck. If this is due to his head injuries, should it not spark a push for accountability around brands and riders' health and a broader discussion wether helmets shouldn't be much more commonplace? Like is Mike Sinclair then really the right guy for his obituary when he's the rider-facing spokesperson for brands who have a history of grossly underpaying their riders but fostering a go big or go home culture on their teams?

I'd love to revisit the itvs where he speaks plainly about the darker sides of the industry, where can I find those? Thx

Thoughts are with his friends and family.

Not to go in depth on this thread but skateboard companies, like actual hardgoods companies, really dont make as much money as perceived. Helmets, unions or whatever aint happening from hardgoods money. Can't speak for every situation but I wouldn't say they are underpaid as much as people just dont use Tum Yeto wood as much as they used to or they are spread too thin.

Much much more importantly, James Hardy RIP. Some close friends of mine had known him for ages and they had nothing but great and amazing things to say about him. Condolences to friends and family, losing someone is absolutely never easy but it is especially gut wrenching when someone didn't get all of their time.

[sometimeperhaps]

Rest easy James.

[fulfillthedream]

damn didn't realize he was 35, such a young man! Condolences to his family and friends. Loved his Real Since Day One part and his Ride The Sky Part.  Rest in Power!

[Dental Dan]

RIP James.

Still can't believe it. Here's his heckride from only a couple years ago...
https://heckride.com/f/james-hardy

Great read, thanks for posting. Cool ass person, wicked skating. You will be missed.

[Shtonk]

Expand Quote

Fuck. If this is due to his head injuries, should it not spark a push for accountability around brands and riders' health and a broader discussion wether helmets shouldn't be much more commonplace? Like is Mike Sinclair then really the right guy for his obituary when he's the rider-facing spokesperson for brands who have a history of grossly underpaying their riders but fostering a go big or go home culture on their teams?

I'd love to revisit the itvs where he speaks plainly about the darker sides of the industry, where can I find those? Thx

Thoughts are with his friends and family.

[close]

Throwing Sinclair under the bus as somehow being to blame here is low. No one can make helmets cool enough that any pro skater is going to wear them. If any discussion is to be had then it should be about health insurance and making sure people have the option and are encouraged to go to the doctor when head injuries happen.

Don't get me wrong here I'm not trying to zero in on Sinclair, just mentioned him because he authored the obituary on Thrasher. I was recently on a shoot with one of snowboarding's biggest board brands that is also a multinational sports corporation. Their team manager is a real cool guy, I really like him. But then one of the athletes knocked themselves out on a big jump in the middle of fucking nowhere and asked us not to call a Heli because they didn't have health insurance, the TM suddenly got all awkward and weird about what to do. In the end the athlete got better really quickly and we rode them down the mountain and did a long drive to the next hospital, but we had ganged up on the TM agreeing that we would call a helicopter at any sign of the athlete getting worse and make it hard for him not to pay for it.
At first this only left a bad taste in my mouth. Now I'm having fights with a bunch of people daily about wanting to collect a bunch of similar instances and try to blow the lid on this whole thing.
We're talking one of the top five, maybe ten, outdoor manufacturers on earth. Dont even ask me about their annual prodit margins. And they're upholding a culture where an employee (the TM) is afraid to call a helicopter on a potentially traumatic head injury because of budgets. That is so fucking dark it infuriates me every time I think about it and the fact that this TM is a guy I like doesn't really help at all.
Without naming a few names and making a few uncomfortable call outs, how is this ever going to change??

[jdpetitpas]

This website wrote a note on James's passing saying it originated from head trauma:
https://sportstalkline.com/skateboarder-what-happened-to-james-hardy-illness-health/

Not really sure where ther're getting the confirmation for this but makes sence with the seizures and him talking about his injuries

[excitableboy]

This website wrote a note on James's passing saying it originated from head trauma:
https://sportstalkline.com/skateboarder-what-happened-to-james-hardy-illness-health/

Not really sure where ther're getting the confirmation for this but makes sence with the seizures and him talking about his injuries

Some TBI AI copy.

What a sad loss. His last posts on instagram seemed foreboding.

[funeral_tuxedo]

This is the only link I could find online for James’ Real Since Day One part and unfortunately. Apologies if you need a Facebook account to watch it.
http://www.facebook.com/share/v/q6iyc2ZmfiYoXcWQ/?mibextid=w8EBqM&startTimeMs=3000

[Braydon SanFransiski]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Fuck. If this is due to his head injuries, should it not spark a push for accountability around brands and riders' health and a broader discussion wether helmets shouldn't be much more commonplace? Like is Mike Sinclair then really the right guy for his obituary when he's the rider-facing spokesperson for brands who have a history of grossly underpaying their riders but fostering a go big or go home culture on their teams?

I'd love to revisit the itvs where he speaks plainly about the darker sides of the industry, where can I find those? Thx

Thoughts are with his friends and family.

[close]

Throwing Sinclair under the bus as somehow being to blame here is low. No one can make helmets cool enough that any pro skater is going to wear them. If any discussion is to be had then it should be about health insurance and making sure people have the option and are encouraged to go to the doctor when head injuries happen.

[close]

Don't get me wrong here I'm not trying to zero in on Sinclair, just mentioned him because he authored the obituary on Thrasher. I was recently on a shoot with one of snowboarding's biggest board brands that is also a multinational sports corporation. Their team manager is a real cool guy, I really like him. But then one of the athletes knocked themselves out on a big jump in the middle of fucking nowhere and asked us not to call a Heli because they didn't have health insurance, the TM suddenly got all awkward and weird about what to do. In the end the athlete got better really quickly and we rode them down the mountain and did a long drive to the next hospital, but we had ganged up on the TM agreeing that we would call a helicopter at any sign of the athlete getting worse and make it hard for him not to pay for it.
At first this only left a bad taste in my mouth. Now I'm having fights with a bunch of people daily about wanting to collect a bunch of similar instances and try to blow the lid on this whole thing.
We're talking one of the top five, maybe ten, outdoor manufacturers on earth. Dont even ask me about their annual prodit margins. And they're upholding a culture where an employee (the TM) is afraid to call a helicopter on a potentially traumatic head injury because of budgets. That is so fucking dark it infuriates me every time I think about it and the fact that this TM is a guy I like doesn't really help at all.
Without naming a few names and making a few uncomfortable call outs, how is this ever going to change??

That sounds like an absolutely terrible situation, although there are huge differences here. You said they are one of the top 5-10 manufacturers in their industry yes? And the snowboarding industry has much better profit margins and money moving than Skateboarding. If people were spending hundreds to thousands of dollars to go to a specific place to buy 800 dollars of skateboarding equipment, or at the very least renting it, then yeah, skateboarding would have more money. The Lakers can play the Minnesota Timberwolves on a Tuesday night and 50,000 people show up. We sell 65 dollar pieces of wood that cost 22-30 to make. Hell, to make a pair of Nikes it costs about 4-6 dollars to make if Im not mistaken. We love this world and it means so much to us so it seems like a well structured industry but we just aren't built the same way as most other industries unfortunately. You don't see many skate big wigs really "livin it up" either. Notice a lot of these guys have multiple jobs, even the TMs and contest judge circuit.

Also Sinclair and James loved each other. Lets refrain from ideas like this. Its not fair. His friend passed. RIP James

[Powdered Toast Man!]

This website wrote a note on James's passing saying it originated from head trauma:
https://sportstalkline.com/skateboarder-what-happened-to-james-hardy-illness-health/

Not really sure where ther're getting the confirmation for this but makes sence with the seizures and him talking about his injuries

I stopped reading a few sentences after the first paragraph

A prominent skateboarder, James Hardy, has recently passed away at the age of 35. Following the news, fans are searching for what happened to him and if he had an illness or any health issues. Let’s find out!

That threw me off. What a fucking weird thing to write, hopefully it’s AI generated.

James Hardy, rest in peace you ripping gentle giant❤️

[moonordie]

Hardy was one of those guys you watch skate and you're like "damn, must be nice."
🌹🌹 🌹

[whaaaaat]

Fuck. If this is due to his head injuries, should it not spark a push for accountability around brands and riders' health and a broader discussion wether helmets shouldn't be much more commonplace? Like is Mike Sinclair then really the right guy for his obituary when he's the rider-facing spokesperson for brands who have a history of grossly underpaying their riders but fostering a go big or go home culture on their teams?

I'd love to revisit the itvs where he speaks plainly about the darker sides of the industry, where can I find those? Thx

Thoughts are with his friends and family.

What is this tendency today to immediately suggest that some authority comes in and saves people from themselves? You act like skateboarders not wearing helmets is the result of some organized cabal of industry leaders with a helmet vendetta. Helmets are organically considered not cool in skateboarding and always have been. Skating is appealing, for better or worse, when there is an element of danger. People are attracted to that, always have been, probably since we were chimpanzees. Skating is also an aesthetic sport, so how it looks when it's done is important, just look at how much fashion is talked about on this forum, and a big helmet sitting on someone's head doesn't look good I'm afraid. Ask Andy Anderson.

I'm not saying any of that is right, or is in the best interests of skateboarders. But to act like someone is to blame or that some individual, or group of individuals, is responsible to drive or mandate some sort of change like that in skateboarding is insane. I got into skating likes lots of people here, I didn't like traditional sports where someone was always telling me what to do, how to do it, and even what to wear while I was doing it. You should consider playing baseball or something if you want a coach to do that level of personal decision making for you. What do you think would happen if Sinclair showed up to a spot and told James Hardy he had to put on a helmet for his trick or get kicked off the team? You know, "be safe or go home" mentality. Is that what you're suggesting? You think he'd put the helmet on?

Anyway, RIP to Hardy. Amazing skater. I was also devastated reading the comments from his mom on his insta. Heartbreaking.

[ToySanta]

Fucking hell. I hope you find the relief you deserve, James. A good one.

[dill8849]

Apparently it was a seizure that took his life (according to transworld). So sad.

[Style Police]

Too soon. Rest In Paradise.

[Lenny the Fatface]

RIP, he had a lot more to offer the world.

[The Big Dawg]

Fucking hell. I hope you find the relief you deserve, James. A good one.

This trick had the loudest reaction of the whole video at the Since Day One premier. RIP to a legend.

[blurst_of_times]

This is the only link I could find online for James’ Real Since Day One part and unfortunately. Apologies if you need a Facebook account to watch it.
http://www.facebook.com/share/v/q6iyc2ZmfiYoXcWQ/?mibextid=w8EBqM&startTimeMs=3000

Thrasher uploaded a recording on a TV as an IG reel

[miff]

Heartbreaking news. Truly influential individual, will be greatly missed.

[SonictheHedgehog]

RIP to one hell of a skateboarder and human. That Since Day One part was my introduction and honestly that part maybe the best opening section since Duffy in Questionable. Glad that the nollie tre gets its right due, but that whole part is just full of powerful and smooth tech gnar. Flirtin’ with Disaster was on the money. RIP James Hardy.

[sharkjumper]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5NEP2PLeom/?igsh=enVhbTFyY293dGt6