Encounters with Pro Skaters

[BraveUlysses]

Never seen a pro in person. But I saw Michael Jordan in a Wizards game against the Hornets and he had a "what the fuck" look on his face when some dude on the Hornets(I think it was a Hornets player) made him fall.

[Sexy Alf]

Back in 2001 maybe, I went to a Foundation demo. I was 15 or so, so I was all into getting the autographs. I got autographs from everyone (Nuge was there too) except for Tony Silva, who was am. He refused, saying that he wasn't allowed to sign things. It's pretty funny in retrospect - I'm still am not sure what that means - lol, maybe it was just a euphemistic way of saying "fuck off."

[floop]

yesterday in Santa Monica i saw Brandon Westgate filming a trick on this bump to bar that he has a clip in in his Stay Gold part (he does a fs smith on it in his part).  not sure if he was warming up for something else but it looked like he was going for the same trick.  i sat and watched for a little bit.  kind of wanted to walk over and say something like congratulate him on his recent parts, but he looked like he was pretty focused on getting a trick and i didn't want to bother them (just him and a filmer, no one else).  was pretty cool to see him just right there when i was walking up to my car. 

i really wanted to wait and see him pull whatever he was going for (and get a pic or video) but i realize that's a big faux so i bailed


here are a few stalkerey photos taken from my car though

[Hannity]

he handles shit like such a man. fuck.

[LOU.502]

loooovvve westgate. gator dated my mom once

[StabMasterArson]

*insert obligitory "lucky to be alive" joke here

[poor alice]

*insert obligitory "lucky to be alive" joke here

HAHAHHA

i dont think ive ever met any pros, cept conhuir lynn cos hes from belfast too, and talked to rodrigo lima when i was in barca, just told him that i liked his skating and his shortys video part was siiick, he was sweaty and seemed stoked on life

[AnklePants]

Jeron and Kenny A are 2 of the coolest dudes.

[Doogie Howser Ph.D.]

Bobby Puleo kicked me out of this bank to ledge..  Said he just found it yesterday and he's already seen Yaje and Pops skate it.

[Chavo]

I met chuck dinkins today at school, if anybody knows him, he was pro in like the 80s and early 90s, but i dont think he was all famous and shit though.

I don't think a single person purchased his board but Dinkins was well-known. Perhaps the first black pro street skater?

The most unknown pro I met was Ty Gilbert (rode for the crappy version of Zorlac). I think there was an ad proclaiming, "Ty is now Pro", but he denied it after asking him if he was a short while later. Either the ad was an ironic statement or he was just too embarrassed to admit, even during a recession, that he professionally endorsed Deadbolt trucks and Zombu wheels.

[William Jefferson Clinton]

Met a bunch of the Real dudes, there tight. ? Met Gerwer, Nuge at a Circa Combat demo.  Met the Baker/ Deathwish dudes at a demo,  Reynolds was nice but half of them were too drunk to skate.  Really pissed me off,  I dont think Braydon even skated once there.

[Random Matt]

-Svitak: His Label Kills intro was true.  Was eating at Subway with him in Akron and he said something like "I don't know what Lucero expects, I'm not Geoff Rowley."  Skated with him a bunch 00-04, all 1031 haters can suck it, Svitak is a true skate rat.  And he's a realist: he was offered to get on Black Label Red Kross (the "Legends" team then) when Lucero was revamping the regular team and didn't feel he was in the same league as Grosso, Agah(was he on there?) and Schroeder, that's why he started 1031.

-Ricky Oyola:  Saw a postcard for my art show and told me my photos looked like mugshots.  I also heard he bombed a crazy hill with gnarly turns and railroad tracks on it in Akron, boggles my mind.

-SF trip 10+ years ago:  First saw Frank Gerwer in his Valet uniform on our way to new EMB.  Then when we there a bike cop was giving tickets to me and my friends Jim Gagne was walking through from Pier 7 and laughed at us.  Jim Gagne was really weird and quiet when he came to Akron with Svitak.

-After some contest I come out of a Port-a-Potty to see Tas Pappas and Mike Crum hitting on my girlfriend.

-Chris Cole-  Exit Skateshop in Philly, I was buying shoes and contemplated buying his Fallen pro model, but ended up purchasing Jerry Hsu shoe.  Cole walked in as I was paying, I felt shitty for not buying his shoe.

- Tons of whatever encounters now in Philly:  Wenning in sweatpants, Kyle Nicholson stoned sitting in a car outside of Nocturnal, Kevin Taylor playing skate on Bainbridge St., Kerry Getz multiple times, Fred Gall walking with a cane, Ricky skating real fast from spot to spot, watched Mike Maldonado close and lock up the old Nocturnal when I was smoking outside of the bar across the street.

-Met Steve Faas at a bar the other month, he fixes elevators now.

(I realize Faas and Nicholson aren't pro)

[Doogie Howser Ph.D.]

I like Random Matt's stories.

[LOU.502]

I think Maldonado might have been the first pro I met. He was in Louisville with city in 2005. At the time I guess I only recognized him from the cky videos, and he was nice enough to not act offended when I brought it up. He then proceeded to back 180 like 10 feet out of the flat bank over a trashcan.

[William Jefferson Clinton]

I've  met Gershon  Mosely and Johnny Layton too.

[Random Matt]

Gershon only counts if he was sweaty.

[LOU.502]

I think Maldonado might have been the first pro I met. He was in Louisville with city in 2005. At the time I guess I only recognized him from the cky videos, and he was nice enough to not act offended when I brought it up. He then proceeded to back 180 like 10 feet out of the flat bank over a trashcan.

i think i got kooked for this jeeeeez

[Paul Cicero]

About a year ago I was in Barca skating MACBA..
Saw Stevie Williams Pop Shov UP the drop at the end of the ledge
(Shits like nipple height) I was blown away.

[skateboardnorth]

A few friends and I met Templeton, Kirchart and Minor while they were in Toronto filming for This is Skateboarding. 

[Morgan Burguess]

I've seen so many pro skaters in my lifetime... usually at a spot/contest or demo -  but a few funny stories already happened.

1.The first time I saw Ed Templeton, I was a little kid and he was full on LSD on a demo at our localskatepark he's just crawled
   on the ground, skating was not possible.. but he has painted small picture for all of us... nice little monsters.  years previously Toy Machine.
   10 years later, I have a really good session with him and Mike Maldonado on some 6 stairs... they just playin around - but everybody have
   fun... and they push me to jump down that stairs like never ever again.

2. I was in my life three times in a whorehouse, every time I met Dave Duncan.

3. During a tour, the 5Boro team slept a few days at my place, Aaron Suski was one of the most talented and mellow dudes i met in
    skateboarding. I?am really sorry that he dont make a better carrier out of skating.  His "this is skateboarding" part was soooo sick.
    I had a lot of fun with drinking games with Dan Pansyl.

4. Gershon Mosley once had a girlfriend in the neighborhood of a friend.
    She was still really young .. far too young for Gershon,  and both always carry a backpack if the walk through the streets...
    looks like two Kid?s on the way to school... Gershon was already way to old for school.

5. By the time Tom Penny was lost, and all have believed he have stopped skating, I visit a lokal contest in a small village in the mountains of
     France - suddenly Tom came out of nowhere, borrowed the most fucked up Board from a kid and have done an incredible 5 minute demo         
     and then leave the szene without any words. At this time nobody believed this story to me... but later Flip give the information that Tom   
     lived at his Mother?s Farm in France.

6.  15 years ago memorable session with Phil Shao and John Cardiel in my local skate park.

[Zurg]

pretty much any big spot you go to in Barcelona is a demo, but the most memorable ones for me are:

wandering to parallel the morning after my board got taken and seeing a crew of the chocolate dudes with ty. i explained my situation to cheeks and it turned out it was their last day, so he told me to meet him at macba that afternoon and he'd sell me some stuff. he was a man of his word and him and jeron showed up to sell me and my 3 other homies who lost their boards, some stuff. him and jeron were both super nice and down to shoot the shit. at one point, my friend who had never really seen any pros and gets a bit giddy in general , just shouted "CHIIICOOOO" while we were talking to him. i think chico knew how genuinely stoked he was and instead of being weirded out, he gave him the high 5 hug and appreciated how stoked my friend was on his presence. i guess you cant really have that long of a career in skating, if youre not a genuinely good dude.

a few years earlier my friend and i were talking to fred gall at macba while he was rolling a giant hash joint with no tobacco. he took one hit and said he had to head out and passed us the joint. being broke at the time i was super stoked. later that night i was walking down rambla de raval and someone puts me in a kind of half nelson from behind and says "gimme your board, nigga!" i turned around and it was fred gall again. i dont think he recognized me or anything, but i thought it was kinda funny.

after typing the fred one, i feel like i might have already posted that. oh well

[Doogie Howser Ph.D.]

Hahahaha, ohhh Freddy

[Choad Muskrat]

That fred gall story is amazing zurg. I would love to have some beers with that dude.

[kevbo999]

haha for sure, more fred stories please

[Sgt.Pepper]

i ran into Al Partanen at Pacific Drive in SD

[mandibleclaw]

just remembered this.  my high school art teacher, when she saw we skated, told us she used to date ben gilley.  she even showed us a photograph of them together.  but later, we found out that she had a twin sister, and it was her sister who had dated him, and was in the photo with him.  SHE LIED

[sparksandblood]

just remembered this.  my high school art teacher, when she saw we skated, told us she used to date ben gilley.  she even showed us a photograph of them together.  but later, we found out that she had a twin sister, and it was her sister who had dated him, and was in the photo with him.  SHE LIED

WHORE.

[skate_bored]

just remembered this.  my high school art teacher, when she saw we skated, told us she used to date ben gilley.  she even showed us a photograph of them together.  but later, we found out that she had a twin sister, and it was her sister who had dated him, and was in the photo with him.  SHE LIED

haha that reminded me of something!!!! like 2 years ago me and a friend were skating this spot and some random bro comes up and tells us how he used to skate and was from alabama, then asked us if his friend ben gilley ever got famous. dude claimed that he took ben gilleys sisters v-card. the conversation was short, but as he walked off in his flip-flops i decided to believe him.

[floop]

saw Nuge and Figgy and some other dudes today sitting outside at Reservoir restaurant in Silverlake.  that place is kind of fancy shmancy..  those Deathwish checks must be pretty good

[sheboyganheadben]

i grew up in wisconsin with the coolest mom ever. she took us to 4 seasons all the time and would chill there and became friends with neil the owner and a buncha the dudes who worked there, took me and my bro and all our friends and like dudes from the northern ahtletik team to louisville ky. anyways,4 seasons was lutzka's old stomping ground and my mom was super loud and became friends with him. anyways we got to skate his like 18th or 19th bday party at 4 seasons. must have been like 02 or 03. they had that punk rock band playing in the park that uses guitars and shit made out of old school decks. anyways, only us like little park groms were there because greg and all the older guys were burning in the limo with the von zipper models. it was pretty awesome though.

my mom asked brad staba what a beef flag was after she saw it in a marc johnson ad at the hot chocolate demo in milwaukee. super funny. he laughed and just said it was anatomy and my mom asked male or female and he laughed and said female. we ended up staying in the same hotel as the entire team in chicago the very next day. i almost pissed when gino got out of the elevator i was getting into. too scared to say anything though.

but for sure the dopest encounter i've ever had with a pro was when i was in 8th grade. my buddies dad had a business trip out in cali so me, this kid travis erickson from madison (super rad skater who lives out in SF and rides for santa cruz now. hes been gettin a little bit of coverage lately), and this kid garret went out there and we were staying between garrett's dad's hotel by santa monica pier and this dude trevor who use to manage 4 season's madison. trevor took us to wilson elementary, the spot with the blue bleachers. and brian wenning and kelly hart showed up. kelly was just SHREDDING. like i had never seen switch flips so high in my life. but they were there with a crew so we didnt talk to them. anyways, when we stayed with garret's dad; every morning we'd wake up super early and skate down to the santa monica sand gaps. and like two days in a row, at like 8 am, brian wenning was there by himself sessioning the end block. and this is right after the DC video came out and there was that whole video segment about how he disappeared and no one could find him and there he fucking was. he would just skate back and forth and just bang out every ledge trick switch and regular. come thru back 50-50, do it switch, back 5-0, come around and do it switch. ect, ect. after like an hour he sits down and we go up to him and are like damn dude you're brian wenning? we thought you disappeared blah blah blah. and he laughed like na that shit was a joke. anyways we just chilled on the blocks with him for like an hour and a half talking about skating. he was super fuckin cool. said DC flew him and his friends out because it was winter back in NJ. he was asking us about wisconsin, about spots, about what we were skating out there, just a ton of shit. dude was super cool, especially since it was 3 little ass kids. i feel bad about all the whirlwind of bullshit that swirled around him.