Skateboarding
Sidewalk-surfing the 50s, Z-Boys empty-pool era, the Bones Brigade, Tony Hawk's 900, the megaramp, Olympic skateboarding, modern street.
Part of Extreme Sports
10 moments in this segment.
- — Urethane wheels (Cadillac). Frank Nasworthy invents urethane skateboard wheels, replacing the clay/steel wheels of the 60s. Grip and ride quality jump overnight; the modern skateboard is now possible.
- — Z-Boys — empty pool era. The Zephyr team (Tony Alva, Jay Adams, Stacy Peralta) skates the empty backyard pools of drought-era LA. Vert skating is born; subject of Dogtown and Z-Boys (2001).
- — The Bones Brigade Video Show. Stacy Peralta's Bones Brigade Video Show (Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Lance Mountain, Mike McGill) defines the VHS-era skate-video format.
- — Rodney Mullen — flatground ollie. Rodney Mullen invents the flatground ollie (a vertical takeoff with no ramp). Every modern street trick descends from it.
- — Tony Hawk — first 900. At the 1999 X-Games, Tony Hawk lands the first-ever skateboarding 900 (2.5 rotations). One of the most-replayed clips in extreme-sports history.
- — Baker 3 — street skating peak. Baker Skateboards releases Baker 3 (Andrew Reynolds, Bryan Herman, Erik Ellington). The DVD defines the "Baker era" of gritty East-LA street skating.
- — Danny Way Great Wall jump. Danny Way jumps the Great Wall of China on a Mega Ramp. Five jumps, the last with a broken ankle. The megaramp goes mainstream.
- — Nyjah Huston — Street League era. Rob Dyrdek's Street League Skateboarding launches with a $1.2M prize purse, putting street skating on the same purse-level as snowboarding. Nyjah Huston dominates the next decade.
- — Skateboarding in the Olympics — Tokyo 2020. Skateboarding debuts at the Tokyo Olympics. Yuto Horigome (street) and Momiji Nishiya (13, women's street) take gold.
- — Tony Hawk's Pro Skater video game. Activision's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater ships for PlayStation. Skate-board sales jump 50%+; an entire generation gets into skating through the game.
