Encounters with Pro Skaters

[benboardbreaker]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Frank Gerwer is not talking with that voice he does in videos and he is not particular funny either. end of story. probably a cool dude, and I respect his old video parts.

[close]

Frank slander is haram around here, buddy.

[close]

yes I know, I do appreciate his skating, but he is not funny. I have met him a couple of times and IRL he is nothing like he is on the dlx commercials. Friendly person though. Tim O'connor is a similar case for me. Great skater, but not funny when he is in character. Perhaps I am just a grumpy fuck. who knows??


I am feeling frisky and digging my own grave here on slap with this post.

[close]

You actually expeted him to act like that 24/7?


Do you also think Star Wars is a documentary?

Of course I know it's an act, but it's not a very funny one.

[casey_litter]

One time chet childress was sauced on fairfax and tried to play hacky sack with a group of people but ended up just failing and calling it Hacky Pack. random.

[pile]

Expand Quote

Frank Gerwer is not talking with that voice he does in videos and he is not particular funny either. end of story. probably a cool dude, and I respect his old video parts.

[close]

Frank slander is haram around here, buddy.

I was fortunate enough to get a tour of dlx earlier this year (some friends work for the canadian dist.) and frank was our guide. I personally thought he was hilarious and super friendly. Loaded us all into a van and showed us a few spots, felt like I was living out that skit from free your mind.

[BluffsideTank]

Not my story, but a dude told me at my local bar last night and thought I'd share. He said he was coming out of "a meeting" (bro was toasted at the bar, so hoping it was just a work meeting and not an AA thing), and this dude pops out of the car parked in front of him and approaches him. It's Guy Mariano, and he's super apologetic. Said he was just writing bar dude a note, because he backed into his car and he thinks it caused a mark. Bar dude was straight up and said "Bro, I've got so many dings there's no way I could possibly know you were at fault. It's totally cool...btw you're a god.

Guy told gave him his number and told bar dude to go check with his wife to see if she knew, as he still felt really bad. Turns out, Guy might have just bent the front license plate slightly, and bar dude told him it was all good. Guy tells bar dude to meet him at Val Surf a few days later, and when bar dude does, Guy has a signed pair of shoes and a board for him. They take a photo, chop it up for a bit, and go their separate ways. Bar dude said Guy Guy was really cool. Here's the kicker. He shows me the photo, and it's Andrew Reynolds.

[BluffsideTank]

Btw, totally kidding. It was Guy Mariano, not Reynolds. Nike shoes and an April board.

[Lostintime]

In 2012ish I was skating my local at the time- Mt. Shasta CA. A grom and a teenager showed up and started ripping.   I made small talk with their dad who turned out to be Chris Senn.  I kinda awkwardly told him how much I loved his toy machine part and gave them their space.  Then when they were leaving  Chris asked me for directions to the neighboring town of Weed skatepark.   It wasn't until they pulled away that I realized I had given him poor directions. 

[Lostintime]

2019 Milwaukee WI- I stop at my local coffee shop straight after working a graveyard shift.  I immediately recognize Janoski.  Baffled,  I get my coffee and step outside only to realize there was  film crew right outside my car. Like a full production filming him cruising down the sidewalk.  As I was pulling away. I got a second to let him know how awesome I thought Mosaic was and he seemed stoked about that. Gave me an awkward handshake through the car window. 
 Turns out he's a fan of / friends with the  Violent Femmes and was in town shooting a music video with them.   

[Lostintime]

Last winter 4 seasons skatepark  Milwaukee- talked a bit with an inebriated Chaz Ortiz.  I didn't recognize him until he introduced himself simply as Chaz.  He was stoked to spend Christmas with his mom. He was a pretty nice dude.   I never let on that I knew who he was.

[Lostintime]

2005 or so SF- I was living outdoors at the time. There was a restaurant on Haight that would give away food at closing time.  I was waiting out front and lock eyes with Karl Watson as he walks out the door with a date.  In about two seconds my eyes told him "holy shit I'm a huge fan but I realize this may be a bad time so I'll just let you be" and his eyes told me "thanks"

[Lostintime]

2003 Cupertino CA - I'm brand new to California bagging groceries when I see Marc Johnson walking towards the exit.   I basically run past him then try to turn around all casually.   Awkward as hell. I think I told him that I loved tilt mode or something.   He was really nice and said some kind words.  Gave me a handshake with full eye contact.   Intense

[123]

There’s no way he introduced himself simply as “Chaz”. How many more fake stories do you have?

[Lostintime]

Dude you can believe what you want. I have no reason to lie.  But I'm genuinely curious as to what seems so far fetched about a pro skater visiting an indoor park near his home city and introducing himself by his first name after some casual smalltalk

[coldbrew]

There’s no way he introduced himself simply as “Chaz”. How many more fake stories do you have?

How else would one introduce themself other than by their own name?

[radcunt]

There’s no way he introduced himself simply as “Chaz”. How many more fake stories do you have?

Everyone knows he insists on being called Big Nuts

[Billy Bitchcakes]

Chaz Ordeez Nuts

[$$LESH]

did he still have his steeze ortiz decal sticker on his windshield

[pizzafliptofakie]

When I met Chaz he spun around a few times until a pair of sunglasses appeared on his face, only to declare that "Ortiz was the name, and Steeze was the game". Before I knew it he was full break dancing in the parking lot and about 10 or 12 bikini clad women came outta nowhere chanting "steeze! steeze! steeze! steeze!"



Weirdest part is it was also winter. He got fucking soaked rolling around the wet parking lot, and the women were freezing. I think one of them got really sick. I'm told that happened at least three times that evening.

[BeAWitness]

Last winter 4 seasons skatepark  Milwaukee- talked a bit with an inebriated Chaz Ortiz.  I didn't recognize him until he introduced himself simply as Chaz.  He was stoked to spend Christmas with his mom. He was a pretty nice dude.   I never let on that I knew who he was.

Not my story but this one time when I was in middle school and still very new to skating Chaz Ortiz pulled up to the local skatepark. This was back when he was on zoo York still but this kid almost beat him in a game of skate doing strictly pressure flips lol
I think it might be on YouTube

[skate_or_dingus]

 Chazman, take my blues away

[HoneNone]

When I met Chaz he spun around a few times until a pair of sunglasses appeared on his face, only to declare that "Ortiz was the name, and Steeze was the game". Before I knew it he was full break dancing in the parking lot and about 10 or 12 bikini clad women came outta nowhere chanting "steeze! steeze! steeze! steeze!"



Weirdest part is it was also winter. He got fucking soaked rolling around the wet parking lot, and the women were freezing. I think one of them got really sick. I'm told that happened at least three times that evening.

dude there is no chance the girls simply chanted "steeze" without the "Ortiz". I see right through your bs stories, go back to the wiener wallets thread.

[TelethonJohn]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Lee Ralph,

[close]

Please continue...

[close]

Lee Ralph stories?

[close]

Of course so, dumbass.

Lee Ralph turns up in my scene from time to time, usually when there’s skate or art events. Never seen him skate, but he sometimes puts his wood carvings in skater group exhibitions, usually traditional Maori Tikis carved into wood, bone, old boards, or whatever else he comes across. As a person, he’s pretty much what you’d imagine – humble, loud, friendly, always has a huge smile full of jacked teeth, and looks like he just walked out of the bush. I don’t know if any of the younger cats in the scene know who he is. All the old heads tribe up together at big skate events and drink beer and laugh hysterically together the whole time – not in an exclusive or elitist way or anything, they’re always keen to bro down with us whipper snappers, you can just sense the stoke in their reunion and wanna let the OGs vibe with each other. Must be a wild time catching up with lifelong homies that you only see a few times a year at that age. Most of the older local cats are pretty tight with him (though I’m sure a lot of them talk it up a bit, whatever, good on em) and love telling Lee stories to the young bucks. I couldn’t count the amount of times I’ve heard an OG say, ‘First you hear him, then you smell him, then you see him’ before laughing hysterically.

Best Lee Ralph story I got is the first time I met him. It was at a show my friend put on at a bar for her clothing brand. My role in the show was a ‘Creep’ – her brand has a kind of horror aesthetic (monsters and ghosts and shit) so as part of the show she had me and a few other homies wearing monster/demon/ghoul masks and weird costumes and wander around the show being weirdos and trying to freak people out (there was no central lighting in the bar, just random discordant coloured lights flashing so it was a bit spooky). I took acid that night for obvious reasons.

At some point in the night, I spotted a yeti with no shoes, bald head, and a massive beard, wearing a shredded singlet and board shorts (dunno if that’s a kiwi slang). I suspected it was Lee Ralph. The main demographic there skaters and artists, so it would make sense if he was there. I pointed him out to my friend who was running the show and told her that I was pretty sure he was a legendary pro skater back in the day. To my surprise, she said, ‘Yeah that’s Lee. I used to live with him.’

He seemed pretty approachable so I went and introduced myself to him. I was tripping pretty hard and kept forgetting I had a mask on until people reacted to it, but Lee didn’t react to it at all so I immediately forgot. He was exactly the kind of person you want to meet on acid. Warm, laughed a lot, super talkative but also gave of the vibe that he was stoked to be talking to you. Like he had a full conversation a stranger wearing a demon mask like it was completely normal. I’d describe his presence as ‘earthy’ (bit hippy I know, but describes him well) and excitable, with the kind of breathless voice people sometimes get when they’re astonished, like a loud whisper. Very connected too – I wasn’t very articulate by then, but he always seemed to know what I was trying to say.
- Just thought of this before I posted: Imagine John Cardiel’s breathless voice describing Tony Trujillo in Sight Unseen (I think) but with a kiwi accent and you’ve got Lee’s voice when he’s excited (If you don’t know the kiwi accent, imagine a really tired aussie)

I can’t remember the conversation too well, but a few things stick out. When I told him I was on acid, he said something like, ‘Oh, that’s good,’ which I found quite funny. Like didn’t say it like ‘oh cool’ or ‘crazy’ or anything like that. Just that it was good. Hard to explain, but the way he said it came across like, ‘I should think so. I was beginning to worry that you weren’t, so thank you for clearing that up,’ or like, ‘Good boy. You’ve made the right choice.’ I probably did a terrible job explaining that but I’m grinning to myself right now remembering it. Fuck off it was funny.

Another thing he said that I found interesting was when we got talking about a mutual friend that Lee had seen recently and who I hadn’t seen in a long time. When I asked how he the friend was doing, Lee nodded enthusiastically and said, ‘He’s good. Good in the body,’ then did a strange pose with his whole body, sort of like a statue, ‘And good in the eyes,’ and he opened his eyes wide while making eye contact with me (dunno if I mentioned but he expresses a lot with his eyes). As strange as that all sounds, I understood exactly what he meant, and the way he expressed it was perfect for how my mind was working at the time. And, to me, it really embodies his unique way of communicating.

I’ve Seen him a bunch of times since then, but most of the stories aren’t that interesting. Just a good dude who always seems happy to give me a bit of his time. He also remembered me the second time we met, which is pretty impressive considering I was wearing a mask. Another time he randomly turned up at the bowl at my local park and drank beer with us while trying to coach us, which was awesome. But yeah, overall, solid ass dude with no ego and a lot of stoke.

This is so rad. "Yeti" is an appropriate enough descriptor, as for some people (obviously not you), Lee Ralph is himself nearly cryptid status. Thanks for sharing.

[Unkle Fleak]

Might be Charlie Wilkins. He wasn’t pro yet. He had the car as well. I can’t remember what it was tho.
The leaders of my crew was permanently on the outside by choice. I tried to unite us all a few Sunday. “Hey these guys wanna skate with us…. NOPE!

Why expose ourselves to a possible kooking or some in confident teen shit. I was like 10

[Pbn_jake]

Not my story, but a dude told me at my local bar last night and thought I'd share. He said he was coming out of "a meeting" (bro was toasted at the bar, so hoping it was just a work meeting and not an AA thing), and this dude pops out of the car parked in front of him and approaches him. It's Guy Mariano, and he's super apologetic. Said he was just writing bar dude a note, because he backed into his car and he thinks it caused a mark. Bar dude was straight up and said "Bro, I've got so many dings there's no way I could possibly know you were at fault. It's totally cool...btw you're a god.

Guy told gave him his number and told bar dude to go check with his wife to see if she knew, as he still felt really bad. Turns out, Guy might have just bent the front license plate slightly, and bar dude told him it was all good. Guy tells bar dude to meet him at Val Surf a few days later, and when bar dude does, Guy has a signed pair of shoes and a board for him. They take a photo, chop it up for a bit, and go their separate ways. Bar dude said Guy Guy was really cool. Here's the kicker. He shows me the photo, and it's Andrew Reynolds.

This made me laugh so hard, thank you. I needed that after a long day

[Thatguywhoscreepy]

Was at sls NJ in 12' I think, maybe 13' after nyjah lost, Cole took it and it still hated myself but not as much as Jah. Anyway was young and hammered out front celebrating Jah loss and Stefan walked by, I am a massive fan and his push changed my perception of our thing so I had to say thanks. While fumbling through an awkward 'Hey thanks for playing love your stuff' I lit a cigarette. Cool fucking guy I was. Stefan proceeds to ask to bum and in my stupor I just blurted out "aren't you a millionaire?" Gave him two and live in shame to this day. love you Stefan thanks for playing

[Lou Strux]

Was at sls NJ in 12' I think, maybe 13' after nyjah lost, Cole took it and it still hated myself but not as much as Jah. Anyway was young and hammered out front celebrating Jah loss and Stefan walked by, I am a massive fan and his push changed my perception of our thing so I had to say thanks. While fumbling through an awkward 'Hey thanks for playing love your stuff' I lit a cigarette. Cool fucking guy I was. Stefan proceeds to ask to bum and in my stupor I just blurted out "aren't you a millionaire?" Gave him two and live in shame to this day. love you Stefan thanks for playing

My brother in Christ, even millionaires leave their pack of smokes in the car every once in a while.

[jgonzalez]

Expand Quote

Was at sls NJ in 12' I think, maybe 13' after nyjah lost, Cole took it and it still hated myself but not as much as Jah. Anyway was young and hammered out front celebrating Jah loss and Stefan walked by, I am a massive fan and his push changed my perception of our thing so I had to say thanks. While fumbling through an awkward 'Hey thanks for playing love your stuff' I lit a cigarette. Cool fucking guy I was. Stefan proceeds to ask to bum and in my stupor I just blurted out "aren't you a millionaire?" Gave him two and live in shame to this day. love you Stefan thanks for playing

[close]

My brother in Christ, even millionaires leave their pack of smokes in the car every once in a while.

Millionaire chiming I’m here: I often forget which car I leave my smokes in

[Thatguywhoscreepy]

Expand Quote

Was at sls NJ in 12' I think, maybe 13' after nyjah lost, Cole took it and it still hated myself but not as much as Jah. Anyway was young and hammered out front celebrating Jah loss and Stefan walked by, I am a massive fan and his push changed my perception of our thing so I had to say thanks. While fumbling through an awkward 'Hey thanks for playing love your stuff' I lit a cigarette. Cool fucking guy I was. Stefan proceeds to ask to bum and in my stupor I just blurted out "aren't you a millionaire?" Gave him two and live in shame to this day. love you Stefan thanks for playing

[close]

My brother in Christ, even millionaires leave their pack of smokes in the car every once in a while.

Listen the shoe was hitting heights and I was a poor 23/24 ish kid it seemed egregious to ask. I hugged a recently sober uncle Fred at deck aid show and accidentally vibed him out too. Komander Kook strikes again

[breezy_again]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Was at sls NJ in 12' I think, maybe 13' after nyjah lost, Cole took it and it still hated myself but not as much as Jah. Anyway was young and hammered out front celebrating Jah loss and Stefan walked by, I am a massive fan and his push changed my perception of our thing so I had to say thanks. While fumbling through an awkward 'Hey thanks for playing love your stuff' I lit a cigarette. Cool fucking guy I was. Stefan proceeds to ask to bum and in my stupor I just blurted out "aren't you a millionaire?" Gave him two and live in shame to this day. love you Stefan thanks for playing

[close]

My brother in Christ, even millionaires leave their pack of smokes in the car every once in a while.

[close]

Millionaire chiming I’m here: I often forget which car I leave my smokes in

maybe it was an uber

[IWANNABEABIGDOG]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Was at sls NJ in 12' I think, maybe 13' after nyjah lost, Cole took it and it still hated myself but not as much as Jah. Anyway was young and hammered out front celebrating Jah loss and Stefan walked by, I am a massive fan and his push changed my perception of our thing so I had to say thanks. While fumbling through an awkward 'Hey thanks for playing love your stuff' I lit a cigarette. Cool fucking guy I was. Stefan proceeds to ask to bum and in my stupor I just blurted out "aren't you a millionaire?" Gave him two and live in shame to this day. love you Stefan thanks for playing

[close]

My brother in Christ, even millionaires leave their pack of smokes in the car every once in a while.

[close]

Millionaire chiming I’m here: I often forget which car I leave my smokes in

That rocks

For me it’s either city bus or girlfriends car.

[Allen.]

Expand Quote

Was at sls NJ in 12' I think, maybe 13' after nyjah lost, Cole took it and it still hated myself but not as much as Jah. Anyway was young and hammered out front celebrating Jah loss and Stefan walked by, I am a massive fan and his push changed my perception of our thing so I had to say thanks. While fumbling through an awkward 'Hey thanks for playing love your stuff' I lit a cigarette. Cool fucking guy I was. Stefan proceeds to ask to bum and in my stupor I just blurted out "aren't you a millionaire?" Gave him two and live in shame to this day. love you Stefan thanks for playing

[close]

My brother in Christ, even millionaires leave their pack of smokes in the car every once in a while.

Can confirm