In 1976 every kid on the block wanted a skateboard. "Let's go surfing..." The skateboard was the answer for the landlocked hodad. Popularity soared but, it soon became obvious, sidewalk-surfing hurts. Injury, death and liability were not groovy. Skateboards, like the boomerang, clackers, and Jarts, were a parents' worst nightmare.

It was a dangerous menace to society. This toy was a killer.

So, of course, I wanted to skate.

The first skateboard I rode was owned by the older kid next door. It was a 24” solid oak plank with clay wheels and super surfer trucks. I was 10 years old. I would sit on it and drag pine cones with my hands to control the speed which left long, brown streaks all over the hill. The kid got bummed with me taking his board all the time and he eventually moved away. But, by then, It was too late. I was “stoked". I went to the toy store that sold skateboards but it was just after Christmas and they were sold out but, the kid that worked there sold me his old clay-wheeled, wooden Super Surfer. Urethane wheels had just been invented so he didn't want clay anymore. I bought a chunk of paraffin wax and melted it with matches so it would drip little dots of wax onto the deck for grip. Boards changed thru time with Pro-line, Trick Ray, Free Former, and Big Banana. We would skate on the FSU Campus where there were wide cement sidewalks. If your wheel nut loosened, your ball-bearings would fly out everywhere. Then, in 1977, I went to the bike shop in Tallahassee "Great Bicycle Shop" and I got a Jaguar fiber-glass and wood board with ACS 500 trucks and Sims Pure Juice "Competition" wheels. Tallahassee had a lot of great ditches that became meeting grounds for all of the local skaters.

By 1978 I learned frontside grinds on vert. We put cement pool blocks on our quarter pipe and got radical. Skateboarder Magazine was the operating guide. The Dogtown influence. It had reached a cult status following the stories told by Craig Stycek. Cynical and un-apologetic, his articles were food for thought that would change our lives forever.

Skateboarding has always been an outlet for individual self expression and pent-up, youthful aggression. But, it can also be an escape from the Landlocked Zombie Apocalypse. A mode of transportation or a lifestyle? Is skateboarding a sport or, is more of an artistic form of expression? The answer to both questions is yes.

Over the years, skateboarding has gone through a lot of changes in popularity and main-stream acceptance. Through it all, we just skated, not caring what anyone else thought about it. In fact, a lot of the time it was kinda like a secret... We knew something that everyday pedestrians didn't. We were onto something so fun and exhilarating that somehow it made you cooler just because. Rolling along with a casual style while flying down the sidewalk brused and bloody... There were times when getting radical was all that I thought about. Then, like the next day, "skateboarding" would raise the bar. challenging me to keep up, mocking me and laughing at my pain from slamming on the trick I just saw in the mag. Sometimes, I would think my skateboard actually wanted to kill me. Other times, It seemed like it was my best friend. A partner in crimes against gravity. It personified itself like an imaginary friend daring you to do it...

I went through a lot of boards in my life, all different sizes, shapes and materials; plastic, solid oak, fiberglass, plywood, and all kinds of shapes -narrow, wide, flat, concave, tri-tail, kicknose, slick bottom, etc. etc. Together, they all had the same persona. Always there for you but, would kick your ass sometimes. And, all of them had secrets that they might let you in on if you were willing to pay the price. I like to think that each of these boards taught me some sort of twisted lesson in life. Maybe, maybe not. But, during all of the major events of my life, there was a skateboard close by. And, yes, they have probably all tried to kill me at one point or another...

For me, after a while, skateboarding became less about learning the latest trick and more about skating with your friends. Now, it is all about just getting out and rolling around. At the skatepark, I'm the "dinosaur" within a peer group of 8 year olds! Time changes your perspective on things and I wonder how many young skaters today will still be rolling at the age of 62.

Like many of my friends, I'm just some guy who skated his life away, and this is my story with no end in sight...