5 of the greatest skate moments...

[skategeezer]

thanks to skate and annoy who took it from Real Buzz

Not sure if I agree...what about Frank Nasworthy introducing his Cadillac Wheels...and Z Boys at the Del Mar Contest...Thrasher launched...

Top 5 greatest moments in skateboarding


Skateboarding has thrown up some amazing moments over the years and here at realbuzz.com we have brought together the 5 greatest moments in skating's history.

1. Rodney Mullen flat-ground 'ollie' - 1982
In 1976 Alan 'Ollie' Gelfand performed a manoeuvre no-one had ever seen before. He was skating in a half pipe in Florida when he changed skateboarding, by performing the first ever no-hands aerial. Before the ollie skaters used their hand to stay with their board in the air, but by hitting the back kick-tail against the lip of the ramp Gelfand was able to stay with his board by just using his feet.

Rodney Mullen was inspired by the trick known as the 'ollie' and studied how Gelfand had pulled it off. He noticed that as he jumped and struck the tail of his board off the top of the ramp the board seemed to rise up and 'glue' to his feet.
Mullen wondered if it could work on flat-ground, so he set about getting off the ground on a skateboard, without using his hands. Mullen achieved the, seemingly, impossible in 1982 and opened the doors to the modern era of skateboarding.

2. Bob Burnquist's 98.0 'perfect run' – 2001
On August 18th 2001 in Philidelphia's First Union Complex, the Brazillian Bob Burnquist pulled off a near flawless vert routine. Bob was looking to beat his friend Buck Lasek's incredible score of 95.50 in his final run of the night. Bob's best score was a 92.00 and he was the last finalist to take to the ramp. The stage was set for something truly unprecedented. The tricks Bob pulled off in the run were like those of a playstation game: switch kickflip-indy to fakie, half-cab blunt revert, switch frontside air, switch backside air, a McTwist, fakie-to-fakie 540, switch nosegrind revert and the best trick was saved til last, the incredible blunt kick-flip-to-fakie. You can see the run via this link: YouTube - X-Games 2001 Skate Vert Finals

3. Danny Way Great Wall of China - 2005
On July 9th, 2005 Danny Way achieved something no-one has before and few will look to replicate. A legend in the both vert and street skating, Danny set himself apart when he began looking into the possibilities of skateboarding on mega ramps. His first major achievement was completing the largest ever ollie into the largest ever air from a quarterpipe for the OP King of Skate competition. The gap he cleared was nearly 70 ft. Danny constantly wanted to push the barriers of skating and set up the Great Wall jump to showcase just where skateboarding was at. He completed the jump on the third time of asking having taken 2 heavy falls in practice. Since then the mega ramp idea has spawned a new Xgames discipline - 'big air'.

4. Tony Hawk's 900 -1999
What Tony Hawk achieved on San Francisco bay in 1999 was truly incredible. The legend of the skateboarding world finally pulled off the trick that had eluded him for years. The scene was set for something special. Bucky Lasek was sitting in first place in the vert Best Trick contest and Hawk had just landed the varial 720, one of the hardest moves in vert skating. He had the momentum and started going for the 900 – 2 and a half full rotations – before the time was up. The siren went, the contest was over. But not for Tony Hawk. The man that put skateboarding back into the mainstream kept on trying for the 'holy grail' of tricks. Everyone in attendance was urging Tony to land on his board. He kept coming close, landing a couple of tries but failing to stay on his board, each time he got up and sprinted back to the top of the ramp. It took Hawk over 10 tries at it but he finally pulled the trick that had given him a broken rib in previous attempts. Everyone watching went into hysterics, every skater in the contest descended to the bottom of the ramp to congratulate Hawk. He was lifted up and paraded around the ramp, showing the world that something truly amazing had happened.

5. Shaun White enters summer X Games – 2005
Shaun White is a phenomenon in extreme sports. The 'Flying Tomato' as he's known started out as a professional snowboarder at the tender age of six after his mum phoned a snowboarding company to ask for a board small enough for her son. Shaun came to prominence at the winter X Games, winning 11 medals to date with his unbeatable power and style. In the summer months, when he's not jetting around the world to find some good snow, Shaun would be found skateboarding with his brother Jesse. He never really took it seriously until he realised he could translate his snowboarding skills onto a skateboard. His unique style was spotted by none other than Tony Hawk and Shaun found the 'Bird-man' was more than happy to teach Shaun the ways of the professional skateboarder. Shaun won his first skateboarding contest in 2002 and became a skateboarding professional in 2003. Shaun became the first ever athlete to enter both the Winter and Summer X Games in 2005 and he added to his medal collection, picking up a silver in the vert contest. What Shaun has achieved is truly amazing and there is little chance of anyone coming close to emulating his incredible feat.
Joe Ryan

[sk8norcal]

I think they are looking at it in terms of physical performance.

[skategeezer]

gotta post kilwags top 5..
greatest moments in skateboarding
January 10th, 2008 by Kilwag

A generic sports and healthy lifestyle website called Realbuzz.com has their Top 5 greatest (defining) moments in skateboarding listed as

1. Rodney Mullen flat-ground ‘ollie’ - 1982
2. Bob Burnquist’s 98.0 ‘perfect run’ – 2001
3. Danny Way jumps the Great Wall of China - 2005
4. Tony Hawk’s 900 -1999
5. Shaun White enters summer X Games – 2005

Really? Shaun White? He’s a talented mofo for sure but creating one of the defining moments of the sport just by deciding to compete? Absurd! You can head on over to Realbuzz.com for their long winded justifications if you want. The only one I can kind of agree on in the list is number one. However, if you put in number one, you have to trace it back to the obvious precursor, which was Alan Gelfand inventing the damn “Ollie” in the first place. Did the Mutt actually do it on flat ground first? I guess it wouldn’t surprise me. As for Bob Burnquist’s 98.0 perfect run, nothing against Bob, but who cares? Tony Hawk’s 900? Ok, I can cut them some slack there, but I think the more accurate description would have been more encompassing. Check out my top 5 defining moments after the jump.
[Photo: Skateboard trophy on far left is 60’s vintage for the “International Skateboard Championships” as found on Hawaiian Surf Auction]

Top 5 greatest (defining) moments in skateboarding
According to Kilwag. Gee, this is a tough one. I’m actually sweating this a little. It’s a big responsibility, one that is likely to get myself torn an new one by the Interweb™ hordes.
Frank Nasworthy markets and manufactures urethane skateboard wheels.
A no brainer. This event has probably had the greatest impact on skateboarding. All the flip tricks and vert tricks that have been invented since can be done on any size or shape board, regardless of what is in fashion, all becasue urethane wheels allowed people the opportunity to push themselves in less than perfect environments without constantly eating pavement, concrete or plywood.
Pool riding (… is responsible for modern street skating)
Shut up and keep reading. This is not a tranny vs street argument.
Before pool riding was “invented” skateboarding was a mostly two axis sport. Pool riding gave rise to air. the combination of pool riding and urethane led directly to skateparks. Skateparks gave rise to artificial coping. The collapse of skateparks gave birth to a generation of street skaters who started trying to emulate tranny tricks on flatground. Like it or not, railings and ledges started out as artificial coping substitutes. Nobody really gave a crap about kickflips, with or without the ollie, until people started doing them down stairs and onto rails and ledges. Once street skating progressed and became more popular it absorbed and enhanced the old, almost dead flatground tricks of the freestylers.
And of course, pool riding gave birth to the vert ramp which was the dominant contest forum in the 80’s, scene building environment in the early 80’s after the death of skateparks, and for some reason, the aspect of the sport the corporate world has decided to push more on TV and in the Olympics.
The late 80’s rise of the independent, DIY skateboard companies owned by former pros - AKA the Rocco effect.
Someone needs to make one of those genealogy diagrams that shows every time Rocco came into contact with and encouraged emotionally and/or financially someone to start their own company. It changed the face of the industry and killed a lot of giants. Of course it created a few as well. It also opened the door by example for companies that are owned and operated by people who are skateboarders, but were never nationally or even locally recognized as pros.
Corporate America decides to get behind skateboarding (AKA, the Tony Hawk effect)
Tony Hawk is an amazing mofo and marketing juggernaut, but he’d still be wearing spandex in used car commercials were it not for the fact that ESPN and Pepsi decided to go after the youth market by promoting Extreme!™ sports. Ask him what happened to his first house.
The birth of the DIY concrete skatepark companies.
I’m going to catch flack for this one, but I think it is valid. I wasn’t here in Portland when it all went down, so I’m not trying to claim any OG status. There was a previous skatepark boom that busted, but this one I think will have a greater lasting effect. Today’s concrete parks built by skater-owned companies are generally better designed, be they tranny or street. Street parks wouldn’t exist were it not for the DIY influence, as ultimately started in the Northwest by Dreamland, Grindline and it’s offshoots. Portland is world famous as a skateboard town for one reason, and that’s Burnside. There were famous parks in the 80’s, but none that stood head and shoulders above the rest as far as notoriety. There were also skater influenced skatepark builders in the 70’s, but once you get past the nostalgia, most of those parks were #### when compared to what is available to ride today as built by a host of companies outside of the Northwest as well. I see Dyrdek’s skate plazas as an outgrowth of the DIY parkbuilder ethos. He wasn’t happy with the tranny so he made it happen his own way. As a result, people all over the world are now more likely to pick up a trowel and bag of cement to build their own spots. Concrete requires more effort and can have a more lasting impact than the plywood jump ramp.
Runners Up.

Runners up, in no particular order.
Invention of the kicktail. Before kicktails there were just short lat tails. The kicktail (and I count the kind that was just an angled piece of wood added on top) opened up another world as far as board control. Sure, you can ollie without a kicktail if your life depended on it, but you wouldn’t want to on a regular basis.
Cheap Consumer Electronics This one may bump one of the top five out. With cheap video cameras you have just about anyone documenting their scene instantly. Small companies don’t have to spend a fortune to put out a video. Kids can edit videos on school computers if they can’t afford a computer. Digital cameras eliminate massive film developing costs associated with learning to take a decent skate photo. (Yeah, I know, what’s my excuse, right?) Cheap consumer electronics have helped disseminate information that you used to have to wait once a month to get from an industry rag. Now there are multiple viewpoints. Cheap consumer electronics have even helped traditional print media be more affordable to produce.
The Internet. (Stop laughing!) It’s brought skaters together world wide. We’re all connected if we want to be. Rippers, tricks and videos can blow up overnight. Building a community used to be a long and delayed process through print zine publications and homegrown contest series. Now you can throw up a blog or visit someone else’s and be instantly connected.

[sniffleless]

Originally Posted by sk8norcal

I think they are looking at it in terms of physical performance.

Then they still got it wrong.

[JetLuge]

Not that it amounts to a hill of beans but "Shaun became the first ever athlete to enter both the Winter and Summer X Games in 2005" is not true... 1997 Lee Dansie..Winter X -Super Modified Shovel Racing Medalist. 1997 Street Luge Medalist...

[Joe & Nick]

Here is mine;

1. won am group by cheating (Austin 2006)
2. number oned on all 50 of my friends at the same time (Athens 2004)
3. chipmunk rides from the top of the hill with the A group because girls are watching, wife and daughter ride beginner course, first family of four in a race. (Antrim 2007)
4. secure beer sponsor for slalom race (Farm 2003)
5. talk rookie out of his mascot costume (Dixie Cup 2006)

and for good measure

5.5 Got security to Texas Eddy's room within 15 minutes of checking in(Chicago 2005)

[esteban]

this list is a list of acts done by a single person at a certain event, so i can see why urethane wheels and the kicktail were left out.

shaun white? eh. he's good, and i'm sure we'll be seeing great things from him, but his mere participation in the x-games isn't really top 5 material.... and does the author really think there is "little chance" of someone else entering in both x-games? as stated, it's been done, and it's not like there aren't any people who both snowboard and skate.

bob burnquist's run was awesome, but it didn't define anything. mullen brought new dimensions to freestyle and street skating, way gave us big air (although i don't really agree with this either), and hawk gave us higher limits.

i would have mentioned the z-boys at del mar.

[Parallel Man]

This list is someone's opinion. It's no more valid than anyone else's OPINION.

5 greatest moments in skateboarding limited to physical performance?

Henry Hester overcoming a 1.5 second penalty to beat Alva at the Hang Ten
Mollica doing the same thing
John Hutson going over 50 mph stand up for the first time
ALL the Badlanders going over vert at Mt Baldy in 1974
Me beating Joe I in Canada.

There.

Now, THAT'S a list you can sink your teeth into!

[sk8norcal]

Originally Posted by JetLuge

Not that it amounts to a hill of beans but "Shaun became the first ever athlete to enter both the Winter and Summer X Games in 2005" is not true... 1997 Lee Dansie..Winter X -Super Modified Shovel Racing Medalist. 1997 Street Luge Medalist...

both sport canceled.

Shaun White, mere participation?
top level in snow and skate, not easy to achieve...

[easy]

Olson winning the Hester series without tossing an invert

The McTwist (on 'crete before foam pits)

...but, has anyone else ever pulled a blunt, kick flip to fakie?

[faceless.13]

Originally Posted by easy

has anyone else ever pulled a blunt, kick flip to fakie?

not on a half-pipe but I've seen a guy do it a couple times on the QP at my local park, mind you he's there at one point during the day everytime I'm there.

[sk8norcal]

Originally Posted by easy

Olson winning the Hester series without tossing an invert

The McTwist (on 'crete before foam pits)

...but, has anyone else ever pulled a blunt, kick flip to fakie?

I remember watching a clip on fuel channel,

tony hawk was teaching a street skater a 540 on the woodward foam pit and resi surface.

I think the guy landed it on the resi after a day of trying!!!

[K-Rimes]

Bob has always been one of my all time favorite skaters for his amazing skill in blurring the lines between switch and regular. That run deserves to be on the list.

[pyrate]

Originally Posted by easy

...but, has anyone else ever pulled a blunt, kick flip to fakie?

chris haslam in almost's crackers and cheese goes several levels beyond bob. heres some clips...
blunt to fakie with a tripleflip: YouTube - Blunt to fakie Triple Flip Out by Chris Haslam
blunt to fakie with a 360flip: YouTube - Blunt to fakie Flip 360 Out by Chris Haslam


that list (and most any "best of..." skate list) is just an opinion and to make a list of the most impressve physical feats that changed skateboading youd need a longer list:
hawk's 900
jamie thomas' leap of faith
peters' and hawk's loops of death
the famous zboys contest takeover
mcgill's mctwist
natas' hydrantspin
the first railslides by natas and gonzales at oceanside contest
mullen's darkslides
and a ton more...

[karrot]

at 1:37 in the 2001 burnquist vid.. on the right side of the screen... its biker sherlock! lol

[easy]

Originally Posted by pyrate

chris haslam in almost's crackers and cheese goes several levels beyond bob. heres some clips...
blunt to fakie with a tripleflip: YouTube - Blunt to fakie Triple Flip Out by Chris Haslam
blunt to fakie with a 360flip: YouTube - Blunt to fakie Flip 360 Out by Chris Haslam


.

Not to dismiss the sickness... but it is a little different as a single hit on a mini ramp

[DK525]

Hahahaha! Sh!t I just wasted a HOUR on youtube starting from that video, to scoothers, to scarying kids, to texas chainsaw massacre scaring kids, to light up ducks, to sea world, then to the san deigo zoo!
I should hate my self, but I can't stop laughing at it.
wahcky tabbacky


and the list is pretty solid to me.

[goldfishofhate]

another moment that most people forget is rob "sluggo" boyce doing one of the only backflips, and backflips to fakie on vert, long long before sheckler adapted them to park contests

[Joe & Nick]

Originally Posted by Parallel Man

Me beating Joe I in Canada.

We both double DQ'ed and you advanced with a higher qualifying place. I'd like to submit that while you may have been faster that day, you've never beaten me.

And so I piss on your list from a great height.

[msk]

1. Rodney Mullen flat-ground 'ollie' - 1982
In 1976 Alan 'Ollie' Gelfand performed a manoeuvre no-one had ever seen before. He was skating in a half pipe in Florida when he changed skateboarding, by performing the first ever no-hands aerial. Before the ollie skaters used their hand to stay with their board in the air, but by hitting the back kick-tail against the lip of the ramp Gelfand was able to stay with his board by just using his feet.

Rodney Mullen was inspired by the trick known as the 'ollie' and studied how Gelfand had pulled it off. He noticed that as he jumped and struck the tail of his board off the top of the ramp the board seemed to rise up and 'glue' to his feet.
Mullen wondered if it could work on flat-ground, so he set about getting off the ground on a skateboard, without using his hands. Mullen achieved the, seemingly, impossible in 1982 and opened the doors to the modern era of skateboarding.

Even on flat ground, Gelfand is still probably the first.

SkateBoarder ran an article on how to do ollies on vert, written by Gelfand, back around '79. One of his tips, after describing the technique, was to first learn it on flat ground, then on banks, then finally take it to vert. I learned how to do ollies from that article, and have done weak (only a few inches high) 180 ollies on flat ground since the late 70s. But Gelfand's method doesn't work for getting any higher, or for going straight. Mullen's real innovation was a slightly different technique that allowed you to go straight, and get high enough to go up or over obstacles...