Photo credit:
©Tony Hawk
Inc.2000

 

By Jason Buhrmester
No one had ever done it.

No one else has done it since.

At the 1999 X Games in San Francisco, lanky skateboard legend Tony Hawk launched into the air during the final moments of his turn on the half-pipe, rotated two-and-one-half times in mid-air and then glided back to earth. The crowd of 8000 erupted; a swarm of skaters encircled Hawk and hoisted him on their shoulders. The 32-year-old professional skateboarder had just landed the impossible, physics-defying "900." The maneuver was so audacious that it made sport highlight reels and grabbed buckets of ink the next day in the papers. The "Michael Jordan of skateboarding" had once again astounded his peers and captured the attention of non-skaters everywhere. Like Jordan's game-winning jumper in the '98 playoffs, Hawk's completion of the 900 was yet another highlight in the career of an astounding athlete.

As a nine-year-old tyro, Hawk became addicted to skating when his older brother gave him a fiberglass board. At 11, he explained to his father that he wanted to quit Little League to devote more time to skateboarding. Hawk attacked skateboarding with an innovative mindset and an obsession that often left his parents sitting in the parking lots of SoCal skateparks begging him to call it a day. He picked up his first sponsor -- skateboard company Dogtown -- when he was only 12, and two years later he was riding professionally for Powell-Peralta skateboards. His teenage years were spent as a member of Powell-Peralta's Bones Brigade, an elite team of skaters who dominated contests and starred in a now legendary string of skateboarding videos. Their popularity transcended skateboarding culture, and the five young skaters became teen icons, appearing in crowded shopping malls for autograph signings and touring the world.

Raking in nearly $70,000 a year from contest winnings, royalties and demo performances, Hawk became a 17-year-old home owner. To skateboarding fans he was already considered the greatest skater the sport had ever seen. He perfected fellow teammate Mike McGill's 540-degree rotation (known as the McTwist), created new variations of the move (including the Kickflip McTwist, Varial McTwist, Stalefish McTwist and others) and pushed it forward into a 720-degree rotation. He is credited with inventing nearly 80 tricks and, until his recent retirement from the competitive circuit, won 73 contests.

Last year Hawk earned a reported $1.5 million in endorsements, while his skateboard company Birdhouse brought in $15 million. He has appeared in the Gap, Coke, Pepsi, Gillette, Mountain Dew, AT&T, Gatorade and "Got Milk?" ads and his autobiography Hawk: Occupation Skateboarder was a New York Times best-seller. His videogame Tony Hawk Pro Skater has remained on the top ten list of best-selling PlayStation games for a year, and the recently released sequel is expected to do the same. This year he launched Tony Hawk Skatepark Tour, a weekly show on ESPN.

From the SoCal home he shares with his wife and two children, the "Ambassador of Skateboarding" chats with Playboy.com about retirement, competing and the perils of being a spokesman for a sport that doesn't want one.

Playboy.com: How long, from start to finish, did it take to teach yourself the 900?

Tony Hawk: The idea was inspired around the time I completed the 720, which was in 1986. I just started thinking about what was next, but I never actually began trying it until about 1996. It was something that I had thought about but could never figure out how to go about it. Other people had tried to land it but no one had until I did.

PB: There was a clip on your TV show of a kid almost landing it.

TH: That kid's come really close. His name is Richard Lopez. What they didn't show was that they had a pool going for him to make it. I started it with $500. All these people started getting in on it, and it grew to two or three thousand dollars. Everyone in the crowd was handing in money. ESPN's director of programming happened to be at that stop of the tour so he pitched in $1000. That put the purse at something like three or four grand. He never landed it so they gave him half the money.

PB: When you first entered contests, you faced criticism for your style. Did it bother you?

TH: Actually, it didn't really happen until I started doing well. People would talk about the fact that my style wasn't in keeping with the hard-core slashing style that involved trying to go high and fast. They called my tricks "circus tricks." And they said because I ollied into my airs, I was cheating.

PB: Now that's the way everyone does it.

TH: It's the only way you can get any height.

PB: In 1984, well before you perfected the 720, you learned the McTwist. Why was that so important?

TH: I had never done anything where I was blind to the ramp during a rotation. It took me awhile to figure it out.

PB: Skateboarders routinely risk (and often sustain) catastrophic injuries, from broken necks to head traumas. What are the more serious injuries you've survived?

TH: I broke my elbow a couple of years ago. I've also torn cartilage in my knee, cracked my ribs and sprained my ankles a couple of times.... Oh, yeah. I've had seven concussions.

PB: When you were 18, your days touring as a member of the Bones Brigade with Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, Mike McGill and Tommy Guererro seem almost rock star-like. Is that when you realized that being a skateboarder can get you women?

TH: Yeah, and it was a total shock. When I was in high school you were a total outcast if you were a skater. You were shunned. It was the last way you could get anyone interested in you.

PB: Recently, Lycos search engine released a list of the most searched athlete names, and you ranked tenth, just behind Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali. Yet you've never been on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Does that bother you?

TH: No, Sports Illustrated is so jock-oriented. Every once in awhile I'll pick it up and check out their Extreme Sports blurb. Usually it's about mountain biker so-and-so who won some event. I think a lot of skaters, including myself, pride ourselves and skateboarding on being different. Skateboarding is not considered a regular sport or a team sport. It's not what we were supposed to grow up doing. So, if Sports Illustrated wants to play us like that it's fine. All they have to do is look at the numbers of participants involved in skateboarding. They can't deny that.

PB: Sports Illustrated went so far as to publish an article titled "Is Skateboarding Really a Sport?" in which athletes from other areas debated its validity as a sport.

TH: Most skaters wouldn't consider it a sport. They see it as an art form or their way to express themselves. They don't care to be included in that, but if we're talking about the actual athletics and the competition of it, then of course it is.

PB: If skateboarding became an Olympic sport, would you come out of retirement and compete?

TH: That's not something I would support. Skating doesn't need the Olympics. We have substantial skateboarding participants, even more than most Olympic events, and I saw the way snowboarding was portrayed in the Olympics. It made it look really bad. Everyone was skeptical anyway, and then they were like, "Oh, these guys smoke weed." Plus, the way it was presented didn't make it look exciting. The same would be true of skating. The people who are into the Olympics, the other athletes and the media would be skeptical of it the entire time and never accept it.

PB: Do you think you would have been good at any sport, or was skateboarding a special calling?

TH: I played basketball and baseball. I might have been good, but I really liked the fact that in skateboarding I didn't have to adhere to a practice schedule or listen to a coach. I could just do it at my own pace and in my own style and still be accepted as a skater. I was always frustrated when coaches got upset with me, and I didn't like having to rely on the whole team to do well. I just wanted to do things on my own terms.

PB: Now that you've retired, your former doubles partner Andy MacDonald is considered the guy to beat. Critics have complained that he is the first "athlete" in skateboarding because he takes competition seriously and trains before competitions. Why is that looked down upon?

TH: That's just not the general m.o. for skaters, so people haven't taken to that attitude, but now there are so many events through the year that the contests last every weekend for about nine months. If you really want to get in that mode you have to practice and train.

PB: Is that something you ever did? Did you ever hit the gym?

TH: No, and he doesn't, either. His training is skating, but he does approach the whole thing like it is about competition and doing well in the rankings.
PB: Is that your attitude?

TH: No. I always just took it event by event. My goal was to just do the best I could.

PB: Was there ever a competition where you really went after a competitor with the intent of burying them?

TH: No, but there were always rivalries created in the magazines and media. They chose to focus on that, but I never fell into that and internalized it.

PB: Skateboarders generally avoid the mainstream media, yet all of the top pros participated in ESPN's X Games when it launched in 1995. Some critics claim it was because the prize money was more than they could earn anywhere else.

TH: I don't think that was it. There really weren't too many events at that time because people couldn't afford to do them. So any event that was put on, people were excited about it. Plus, it was cool because it was televised. The only difference now is that these shows are doing really well and have a lot of viewers, but the prize money hasn't increased significantly. If you take, for example, the sports that the X Games is broadcast at the same time as -- like Nascar, golf and basketball -- our prize money is a joke in comparison.

PB: At the 2000 Gravity Games in Philadelphia, pro skateboarder Bob Burnquist complained that the judging was unfairly slanted toward flashier tricks, while the more difficult technical tricks were ignored. He even threw his second-place medal into the crowd. Is unfair judging a concern during these mainstream events?

TH: Last year I felt the Gravity Games had the most skewed judging of any event.

PB: Any event?

TH: Any event. And the reason for that is the World Cup Skateboarding Association sanctions all of the ESPN events and any other major event throughout the year. They supply the judges, criteria and organization. They weren't allowed to do the Gravity Games, so there is a whole different crew every time. There is someone who is organizing it, but it isn't someone who has been doing it for very long. They are just learning, and that isn't really the venue to test new ground.

The sad part is that the Gravity Games has more money behind it than X Games because it's on a major network. Their big claim was that they were offering the most prize money ever, but it wasn't that much more. It was just enough so that they could make that claim.

PB: Yet it airs against Sunday Night Football.

TH: Exactly. When you look at what they're pitting it against and the amount of revenue it generates, you have to be offended when they brag about having the biggest event with the biggest prize money. Come on, guys. The first prize is only about $2000 more than the X Games.
PB: So, what have you been up to since retirement?

TH: I've been doing a lot of exhibitions, tours and promotions. It's a lot of the same stuff that I was doing before, but now I'm more concentrated on it.

PB: You also produced the Tony Hawk Skatepark Tour for ESPN.

TH: That was all filmed in July and August 2000. They're talking now about putting out all of the shows together on video, but that hasn't happened yet. Something's on hold with it, but I'm not sure what. I think there are issues with ESPN and the production company over who owns the rights. It's a big hassle.

PB: Have you enjoyed working with ESPN?

TH: They've been great, especially on the tour. We've never had a tour with a budget like that. We had a huge bus and everywhere we went they had set it up beforehand. We had carte blanche anywhere we went even if it wasn't a skatepark. That was really cool.

We're just starting to plan next year's. We had high hopes, because we thought the show was really successful, but on the first conference call we had with them we told them we wanted to go to Europe. They said, "You won't be able to go to Europe on that same budget." I guess that was their way of telling us that we weren't going to be getting any more money.

PB: Have your dealings with commercials and movies gone well?

TH: Yes.... Once I got an actual agent we could dictate what the companies need to do. For instance, Disney called and told me that they used footage of me skating as a model for the animation in Tarzan and asked if I wanted to be involved with the promotion of the movie. I agreed to do a commercial for the Tarzan home video, but I didn't have time to go over all of the ramp instructions and ideas because I was on tour. So, they hired my friend as a consultant to tell them what I would like to see. It made everything so much easier.

PB: Had you been aware that they had used you as a model for Tarzan?

TH: No, but once the ball got rolling they made it sound like I was there from the inception. They did let me bring my kids to the premiere, though.

PB: Several years ago Nike attempted to manufacture skateboarding shoes but suffered a severe backlash by skaters who felt the company sought only to exploit the sport. Now that skateboarding has become more mainstream, how would you feel about Nike making skateboarding shoes again?

TH: It wouldn't bother me that much because the hard-core skaters wouldn't buy it anyway. I did really like the ad campaign they ran that showed athletes being chased off like skaters with the tagline, "What if we treated all athletes this way?" That was brilliant. I backed that because it was really cool of them to bring that level of awareness to people.

PB: How many times have you been arrested for skating?

TH: I've gotten a few tickets, but I've never been fully arrested.

PB: Are there any other perks you get for being Tony Hawk? It's really difficult to gauge the extent of your popularity.

TH: Well, it hits pretty big in certain areas. When we were at the X Games, Danny DeVito was there with his kids. He invited us to dinner with him. We couldn't go though because he invited us on the spur and we already had somewhere to go. Other than that we get restaurant reservations easily and occasionally get free meals.

PB: How involved were you with the making of the Tony Hawk Pro Skater videogame?

TH: I did one day of motion capture. Other than that I kept in touch with Neversoft and made a lot of suggestions. I really tried to provide reference points and play every build of the game as they updated it. I was already heavily into videogames so I understood playability and knew what kids were going to like.

PB: In the game, players choose a character from a list of real professional skaters. Did you pick the skaters to include on the list?

TH: Yeah. Neversoft and I drew up a list that best represented the different styles of skating.

PB: Did anyone feel left out?

TH: No one was mad, but a lot of them are after me. They're trying to get into the next one. So far the only guy that they've confirmed for the next one is Bam Magera. They don't know who else or if they are going to add anyone else.

PB: What's next for skateboarding?

TH: It will keep going along the same path. There will be more novelty events like highest air contests, long jumps and other events that push the boundaries of certain types of skating.

PB: Even as popular as you've grown, there's never really been a negative backlash against you. How come?

TH: Probably because I'm a vert skater and I don't represent the whole street era. So a lot of kids think, "Why do people pay so much attention to him when he's just a vert skater?" And because of the videogame and ESPN, a lot of young kids who just started skating wear my product, which I'm sure some of the hard-core skaters get sick of. It's true of anything that's popular. As soon as it's in, it's out.