Every night was just drinking beer, going up to Hollywood, and, you know in order for me to have
a good night, somebody had to have a really bad night. I had a taste of the heroin and things
really got bad, I mean really bad. I used toilet water, gutter water... I shared needles with
guys that look like they were dying of AIDS. They were HIV positive and I didn't even care. I really didn't care if I lived or died.
The following is a compilation of the highs and lows of the extraordinary life of skateboarding
legend Jay Adams. I was there when Jay was sent off to prison and when he was released.
In between were times of struggle and victory. By the mid-1970s the focus in skateboarding had
shifted from street tricks and downhill to ramps and pools. Then the crew from Dogtown
took what nobody was offering. A kid named Jay Adams quickly became one of their leaders.
He's not the kind of kid that could sit still, he's not the kind of kid that could
be quiet. He always had to have something going on. It's as if, it's as if we all have 120 going
into us, and he's got 240. So he was always...had this intense revved up engine. You know, he's so
gifted in certain areas of his existence, and so absolutely clueless in others. Jay
Adams used to skate for my team. He was a good friend, and he was quite a competitor in his day.
He was a total troublemaker, and in the funniest way. And completely subversive.
Jay Adams I think is one of the best skaters of all time. Even while Jay's star was rising there was
turbulence in the air. In 1982 he was convicted of assault following a fight he instigated which
led to his victim's death. Later, there would be other charges, mostly drug related. According to
Adams, after my mother and brother died I wanted to shoot somebody, in instead I shot myself. He
was referring to mainlining heroin. Even when drugs were behind him, trouble visited, and in
2006 he began serving two years for a drug deal he had little to do with. The following words were
recorded of him speaking from the Santa Ana Jail. Drugs was never an issue in my house. I
had a really really good childhood with Kent and my mom. My mom was like my best friend until she
died. I think the only tools he had, you know, to deal with that we're getting loaded and getting
violent. Jay was all about punk rock, pedal of the metal. And the punk rock days came out,
every night was just drinking beer going up to Hollywood. You know, in order for me to have a good
night, somebody had to have a really bad night. I had a taste of the heroin, and things really got bad.
I mean really bad. I used toilet water, gutter water... I share needles with guys that looked like they
were dying of AIDS. They were HIV positive and I didn't even care. I really didn't care if I lived or died.
Jay being in jail I think is probably the best thing that happened to either one of us.
Since I've come here, you know, I've opened up my Bible. I've read it. I've had time
to get to know God, and for the last 20 years or however long it's been
since I accepted Christ at Hermosa Beach, I wondered why I never had that overnight changing
experience, you know, where I'd magically not want to sin as much anymore .Because of her I wanted to
better myself. It's incredible how much God has been with us throughout this whole time.
We've both grown so much in the Lord. We both actually know him now, and we pray
together, and there's just a lot of changes in our life that I can see you know, that I've never felt before.
We're here at Alaska Airlines picking up my my brother in Christ, Jay Adams.
And uh, this is an amazing moment because I remember being released from prison myself.
So for me this touches home. This is an emotional, emotional time, and I'm just anticipating him walking
down the hall ...And, and I can even see him coming down. There he is. This is going to
be one of those times that uh... it it'll touch your heart so just this is amazing.
Aaron I'm looking at Jay, dude. He's walking down the hallway.
Yeah, call back in 10 minutes I'll let you talk to him. Grandpa.
Yeah yeah baby.
Look at you, dude. I got something for you. What's up boy?
You remember McDonald's, right? Yes, we thank you God, we thank you for uh Jay Adams life, Lord,
and what you're gonna do in his life. I pray Lord that you light a fire underneath him that
would just burn so hot that he would just run straight, straight to you every day God. And that
he would want to serve you like a soldier in an army for you God. It's going to be awesome
what you do, the testimony that you've created in his life, God. Just as you've created one in mine
you've created one through him, God. And he has stood the test and he has passed the test and
now he's going to graduate, God, I thank you God that you set him free in that prison cell God.
He said, man I finally read the word, and I thank you God that you planted that seed in his heart that's gonna sprout
and be fruitful, and it's gonna have fruit that's going to remain, God. And I thank you for Jay Adams,
and what you're about to do in his life, in Jesus name, amen. Amen, hallelujah hallelujah yeah, oh man.
My name is Jay Adams. I started surfing when I was four years old, started skateboarding
right about the same time. I was on Zephyr skate team when I was about 13.
And life was good, just surfing skating every day.
I realized surfing and skating were a natural high for me when I was a young
kid, and they just became like, you know, the thing that I thought about all the time and
just wanted to do all the time. By the time I was about 15 I started drinking alcohol.
When I got to be 18, punk rock came around, and then that's when uh all the trouble started. Alcohol
and drugs took me down a road that I wouldn't want other people to go down.
I don't care who you are, almost every junkie I know started off smoking weed. And why would you
want to uh, why would you want to do something that's going to just put your head in a cloud?
You may think that they're fun in the beginning, but they're not cool, and it turns out not to be fun
anymore. There's no freedom in drug use. It takes away your freedom, you become a slave to it so you're
not free in that way. One of the best choices that I've made was deciding to live my life sober,
because I don't care who you are, nobody benefits from using drugs. It'll take
you down, I don't care who you are. you'll either die or you'll get so good at them that you got
to get help to stop. So I mean, kids... you don't think like when you're 14 that if you smoke
weed you might become a junkie, but you have a way better chance of blowing your life by
starting out by smoking weed and drinking alcohol .It's a dead end road all the way.
Surfing and skating were my passion so you know if you want to be good at something or if
you just want to have fun at something, you got to spend a lot of time doing it. I just loved
surfing and skating. I never wanted to be Kelly Slater or something so I just did it because I
love it and I have fun doing it. It's my natural high. I think a natural high is really important
for kids because uh, you just, you gotta focus on that natural high so you don't have to use
other things to get amped out in life. And you know, being naturally high off of things like sports and
whatever, whatever your passion is, it's just better than using drugs. One of the biggest
lessons in my life so far is just learning that I don't have to use drugs to enjoy life.
There was one point in my life where I was such a slave to my drug use... I mean now that's
probably the biggest lesson I've learned is that you can enjoy your life without using
drugs. My name's Jay Adams, and my natural high is... sobriety now, just being amped on
not having to put something in my arm or in my body to feel amped. That's my natural high.
Few people have ever changed surf, skate, and youth culture like Jay Adams. Like many great
artists, he lived hard and left us too soon. His great heart gave out while on a surf trip to
Mexico with his wife Tracy. He was over 50, but he was young again, tube riding like a kid. Jay
Adams left us poorer with his passing on August 15, 2014. The entire surf and skate world mourned.