Tony Hawk: The man who changed skateboarding forever

Skateboarding has become the most popular action sport in the world in the last 30 years and is now featured at the premier sporting event in the world, the Olympic Games.

Tony Hawk is widely regarded as the greatest skateboarder of all time, helping skateboarding and extreme sports become mainstream towards the end of the 20^th century.

The skateboard prodigy was born in San Diego, California, on May 12, 1968. According to Britannica.com, Hawk had little patience for failure and started skating at age nine.

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After starting skateboarding at age nine, Hawk quickly learned the ropes of the sport, entering competitions at the age of 11.

His parents supported his hobby and created the California Amateur Skateboarding League and the National Skateboard Association to give the sport more legitimacy.

Tony Hawk started to gain fame after signing for Powell Peralta's professional team and starring in the famous 'Bones Brigade' video. The video sold over 30,000 copies when it was expected to sell just 300, according to the book – 'Skateboarding and The City.'

The action sports hero rose to prominence in the late 80s and early 90s, dominating the Vert Skater circuit and showing off tricks no one had seen before.

According to Britannica.com, Hawk was named the 'Top Vert Skater' every year from 1984 to 1996, winning 73 titles in that time frame.

Winning so many titles meant Hawk had to be ahead of the competition, creating dozens of new eye-catching tricks as part of his routine.

His most notable tricks he invented during his success were ollie-to-Indy, the gymnast plant, the frontside 540-rodeo flip, and the Saran wrap.

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The most prestigious event for any extreme sports athlete is the X games. Unsurprisingly, Hawk competed at the games the only way he knew, to win.

Out of 17 X games events he entered, Hawk walked away with 16 medals, winning gold with ten of those medals, according to xgames.com. However, the skateboarders' X games highlight was completing the first-ever 900-degree spin at the games in 1999.

When his skateboarding career started to become a success, Tony Hawk ventured into the business side of skateboarding in the early 90s.

His first two companies he started were Birdhouse, a skateboard and accessories manufacturer, and Blitz, a skateboard products distributor.

After numerous other ventures in the skateboarding world, Hawk accepted a deal with the software company Activision to develop a new game called 'Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.'

'Tony Hawk's Pro Skater debuted in 1999, with four more getting released until 2015. The Pro Skater game series is one of the most successful video games of all time, grossing more than $1 billion in its time, according to Britannica.com.

Since retiring from full-time competition in 1999, Hawk created Tony Hawk's Boom Boom Huck Jam, a band of action sports athletes and popular punk bands who put shows on for people across the US.

In 2002, the 'Tony Hawk Foundation' was founded to help develop skate parks in low-income areas across the United States.

In 2022, he helped create the documentary 'Tony Hawk: Until the wheels fall off' a film about his life, his relationships with his family, and his whole journey through skateboarding.

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