do a kickflip out of my board so neo how
are you man so happy to be doing 73
questions with you well thanks for
including me thanks for thanks for doing
it um so the first question just to get
out of the way because the Internet is
dying to know how many times this week
have you been semi recognized or miss
recognized Tony Hawk maybe three or four
okay and who have you been most recently
mistaken for let's see Kelly Slater
Lance Armstrong and the guy from the
movie Ghost Patrick Swayze no they got
to be Trey's him yeah you do kind of
look like him what's the most common
misconception about skaters uh I think
that they're lazy stoners and I can tell
you it's the exact opposite to be a pro
skater you have to be disciplined you
have to be determined and you have to
work at it mm-hmm how much you skate in
these days I escaped almost every day
and you been skating for how many years
full 41 years now Wow and do you still
have any early boards I do I have a
couple special ones in here he want to
see I want to see him yes
so how easily the skateboarding come to
you I was not a natural it was actually
something had to work out very much and
do you remember what motivated you to
start yeah my older brother was a surfer
and he was skating in the 70s and some
of my friends in my neighborhood were
skating so I just picked it up with them
what is your first memory of riding on a
skateboard I remember riding down the
alley and running into the fence and
getting splinters in my hands Oh God and
those are the board's right there yeah
here are my boards this is my very first
professional skateboard model with my
name on it
yeah and it's the actual one that I rode
I gifted it to a friend of mine who was
an amateur skater back then and recently
he gifted it back to me so I'm very
thankful to have it this board was
actually an auction item for our
foundation I sent this board to
surviving members of the clash and they
decorated it and they signed it they
wrote lyrics to the London Calling on it
and when it went up for auction
I I was high as bitter because I
couldn't let this go yeah and then this
is actually a replica of my very first
skateboard look at which I happen to
hold on to and now sits in the
Smithsonian that is so cool
Smithsonian yeah all right now back to
your childhood though how do your
parents feel as you started spending
more and more time in the skate park uh
they were surprisingly supportive most
of my friends parents did not want them
skating so I felt very lucky right then
do you have to be young to be a skater
uh it helps with resilience and balance
in the beginning but I don't think so I
feel like you can start as slow as you
want there are plenty of facilities
around his try if you're older right
what would you say is the moment your
career completely changed uh when our
first video game was released things
changed dramatically I got a lot more
opportunity I didn't have to compete to
make a living at skating the recognition
factor was was immense and it really
tipped the scales for skating in terms
of general popularity it did and you're
being interviewed by a huge fan of these
games oh thanks alright but I have to
ask you who do you choose yourself as
your avatar when you're playing your
games are you asking if I play with
myself no no yes I play as my character
in thps series because inevitably I know
all my special moves and that's how I
get the highest scores because if you
have your own video game people want to
challenge you at it right and so playing
as your own character is more
appropriate no cheat mode a little bit
what's a trick that video game Tony can
do that real-life tony cannot do let's
see 900 to revert to manual to kickflip
McTwist on the next wall gonna be trying
that anytime never who's the most
exciting person that you've gained with
I play video games with Bruce Willis at
a charity event a while back and he and
I went head-to-head I came from which
game but I won now on a scale of 1 to 10
how would you rate your video game
skills uh I'm about an 8 on my game
series and maybe on any Mario game that
I've played with my daughter any of the
new games I'm not you know the shooters
forget it right I heard that you gave up
violin to become a skater's this is true
I was playing violin at the same time
when I first started skating and my
music teacher at school wanted me to do
all these school concerts on the
weekends but I was off in Florida at
skate events and so he told me that
had to choose one or the other well I
think I made the right choice do you
want to go outside
yeah but love it so Tony what is your
biggest pet peeve oh wow I travel
extensively and when people crowd the
baggage carousel for their bags it
drives me crazy it's like let's all
stand back and wait until we see our
bags hate that - what's the best
birthday party you've ever had my 50th
was a treat my wife surprised me we had
Mark Mothersbaugh saying happy birthday
to me on stage John Doe and Exene from
the band X played a few songs and the
band popped oh and also played now when
you fly do you check your boards or do
you carry them on I carry them on if
possible but there are a few key
international airports where you cannot
carry skateboards including London
Heathrow and Sydney so I have to check
them in unfortunately and who do we have
here oh here's my daughter hey she also
likes to spin so best skate park in the
United States what is it whoo I really
like the Linda Vista skate park here in
San Diego it's brand new it has a little
bit of everything and it's got a lot of
variety and terrain right and you're a
trainee skater is that correct I am a
transition skater yes what what does
that mean it means my expertise is in
ramps with a radius yeah because I grew
up skating backyard pools and that's
what pools were you know there's emulate
waves and I just learned how to skate
half pipes much better than anything
else
now skate feels like its own language
obviously you got laser flips eggplant
hit Bob Ariel's jealous husband it
sounds so cool sending all these words
but where do all these names come from
the general rule was if you created the
trick you get to name it and anything
goes and there's no rules in
skateboarding so we have some ridiculous
names all right now can you tell me
something in skate language and see if I
can decipher it
whoa okay uh the other day I tried to do
switch kickflip to frontside hurricane
down a six stair and ended up landing
darkseid and credit card on the bottom
right okay so that means that you were
rolling you broke a bone and then you
found out you have a bad credit score
right yeah I'm not really broke a bone
let's just say that my skateboard landed
in the
uncomfortable place okay what what is
the craziest thing that you've ever done
on a skateboard I jump between two seven
storey buildings in downtown Los Angeles
for an MTV show Tony I'm still here
what's the hardest part of any trick the
hardest part of any trick is committing
to the landing it's it's there are all
kinds of elements to a trick and you can
have all those pieces but that when the
time comes the moment of truth is if
you're really gonna make it what tricks
have you invented a few I'd say the most
popular ones are stale fish Madonna 720
all day 540 kickflip McTwist the
ingenuity in this name design I'm blown
away so how long did it take you to
train to land the 900 I tried 900 on and
off for about 10 years before I finally
made one incredible and have you seen
anyone land a 1080 I have I've seen two
people land 1080s they're much younger
than me and they did it on a much bigger
ramp but it's very impressive what's the
trick that you're trying to master today
the most recent trick I've been trying
is an alley-oop frontside lipslide into
a backside Smith grind I still have no
idea with it I don't expect you to do
you have any pre competition
superstitions I don't really have
superstitions I have more of an OCD the
way that I put my gear on it's always
left first but I've just been doing that
since I was a kid and why stop now
what's most memorable injury that you've
ever had I broke my pelvis I fractured
my skull and broke my thumb all in one
fell swoop how do you talk yourself back
onto the board after going through
something like that that was the hardest
thing to come back from a lot of things
I took for granted I would come back to
we're actually very daunting and scary
to me my balance changed it took me
about a year to really to really get
back to where I was comfortable with all
my tricks and just little by little what
would you say is the biggest life lesson
we've learned in skateboarder biggest
life lesson is the value of perseverance
just trying something over and over and
keeping at it and not giving up wise
words from Tony Hawk huh sounds like we
got some skating in the distance going
on oh those are my kids skating in the
backyard
naturally they would be
and that is a hawk on your gate it's a
recurring theme to have Hawks
know we don't have an abundance of them
but this is actually a silhouette of my
first skateboard graphic like that white
board that you saw in there this is the
only gate exclusive to it it's really
cool very apropos
what is also a propeller is bird house
so where did bird house come from bird
house is the skateboard company I
started because I thought that my career
as a skate as a pro skater was coming to
an end and I wanted to stay in the
industry I wanted to create my own brand
and have my own team and little did I
know that was sort of the beginning of
my second wave of a career in skating
right now when did you start the Tony
Hawk foundation in 2002 and was it
always just about skate parks mostly
about skate parks but also about
empowering communities and youth to to
do something for themselves and to give
them the resources and the funding to
actually get parks built right and it's
it's the proudest work that I've done so
cool
how many skate parks have you opened
we've helped to fund over 900 facilities
very inspiring now when it comes to
designing them how much have a say do
you get I help in the design on some of
them I get all the designs across my
desk but I'd say in the last 10 years
they really improved I just try to mark
them up and make sure that it caters to
all skill levels and all styles and you
also recently designed a fashion line
and launched it in Paris right yes I
helped to design the Tony Hawk signature
line so cool what's your favorite place
to skate in Paris the new vans skate
park that was built for the Vans Park
series most recently how would you
describe your personal style Tony I
would say it's subdued clean um
relatively cool for 51 year old and do
you have a favorite shoe for skating I
do my new Lakai Pro toes in the new
colorway with all the achievements and
the endorsements you've received over
the years what's been the attitude
toward you in the skate community at
first there was a pretty heavy backlash
for having sponsors that were
non-endemic more corporate but nowadays
I think that people know I have the best
interest of skating at heart and that I
keep skating is integrity at the
priority and even with the young
generation having sponsors that aren't
skate companies is very commonplace now
if you could redo any moment in your
career
what would it be um Wow
if I could redo any moment it would be
not doing a loop in a full gorilla suit
remember that one now know what you know
now what's something that you would go
back and tell 14-year old Tony I would
say you're not gonna believe what you're
in for
and if anyone asks you to do a loop in a
gorilla suit
please decline now your earliest
signature hairstyles were copied by so
many skaters how did you land on those
hairstyles really my friend Kevin's Tom
and I were just trying to grow her bangs
out and I just kept sort of trimming up
the rest of my hair until I had a pretty
big flop and then that became known as
the flop in fact some barbers we're
offering Tony Hawk haircuts and their
signs outside yeah I'm pretty familiar
with the flop this is it right here
right uh yeah this is prime flop days
right there in fact it was so I guess
iconic the Thrasher Magazine dubbed it
the mix cwiebe are you gonna go back to
that I don't think I have the fullness
to go back to that but I would love to
Tony as a father what do you hope your
kids learn from you I hope I have taught
them the value of perseverance of
believing in yourself and creating your
own path in life
and they're really good skaters they all
skate yeah and by the way I love that
video of you teaching your daughter how
to drop in on the vertical ramp so thank
you yeah I didn't think that would go so
viral it went so bowels everywhere but
do you get nervous about them getting
hurt I do but I feel like they have all
have a pretty good sense of their
limitations some are more daring than
others but at this point they're all
almost full-grown adults and they have a
better sense of their limitations than I
do now what is Riley Hawk done that Tony
Hawk can never do you name it I think
firstly to make a career as a pro skater
without having to compete just doing
video coverage and photos being a male
model having a being a rock star having
his own signature shoe in his 20s I mean
the list goes on so Joe is that right uh
no I'm just really proud of him cool do
your kids that offer any input on what
you post online or put on social media
only if it includes a picture of them
then I will I
run it by them and get their approval so
Tony San Diego how long have you been
living in this beautiful beautiful city
for my whole life and besides San Diego
where else would you call home I would
say my personal vert ramp yep yeah my
that's sort of my home away from home
that's my happy place
very very cool now growing up here did
you surf - yeah I got she started
surfing before I started skating now I
would imagine that you as a skater makes
for a good surfer right uh I'm not great
at surfing I I'm actually scared of big
waves because if I fall on a big ramp it
doesn't come crashing after me and and
try to drown me and also I just don't
get time to chase the swells these days
all right let's check out some skating
so Tony what do you think has brought
the biggest change in your sport I would
say the advent of social media it's
really leveled the playing field in
terms of how to get recognized and you
know kids can make their own scene in
their own region and really become a pro
skater without having to chase the
magazines and the coverage and the video
and everything it's amazing and what's
the most exciting change you've seen in
skating over the past decade ah the rise
of female skaters there's some rippers
out there right now at 20 in 2020 it's
being introduced as an Olympic sport
which is incredible were you involved in
making that a reality yeah I was in some
of the early meanings of organization
actually went to the IOC in Lausanne and
I campaign for it for a bid and then
once I realized it was actually going to
be a reality I stepped back from all the
political process and I'm just there to
watch as a fan no that's so cool is it
harder to skate in front of a camera or
an audience I would say it's hard to
stay in front of audience camera does
not make funny if you fall and it gives
you a second chance it's crazy
now which excited you more visiting the
White House or being featured on The
Simpsons Oh being featured on The
Simpsons was by far one of the coolest
thing that's ever happened to me thank
you Sarah Hall I really the idea that
they created an episode around me it was
just unbelievable is it safe to say that
you may be the only person in history to
have skated the White House well Annie
McDonald was there introducing Bill
Clinton and he claims that he
stepped on a skateboard but Annie
pictures or it didn't happen true
now skating is a solitary sport but it
creates such a community how do you
explain our um I think it's more that
there's a camaraderie especially if you
go to the skate parks people really love
to see put each other pushing their
limits and overcoming their fears and as
much as it is an individual pursuit
there's so much teamwork and right it's
really more like a party and what is
your relationship with the Bones Brigade
like right now
I still keep in touch with the Bones
Brigade Tommy my Lance Rodney and cab
you know we're all like still hanging
out we still skate together right now
you gonna show me some moves uh yeah
sure let's do it traffic alert I don't
want to stake my kids oh no you
definitely don't want to do that and
there is Tony Hawk making it look easy
for question number 73 did you ever find
animal chin no why do you think I built
this why do you think I'm still out here
doing it do you want to come join me in
the search like me skate with you yeah
come skate with me I don't even what the
hell is this there you go I've no idea
what I'm doing but okay you ready you
just got it get a lean forward drop in
okay and believe in yourself all right
one two hey kickflip Tony I think I just
did a 900 yeah you wish