It's amazing how he can be that good at so young and able to figure things out and ace it before the world of skating and tricks was more stable and cemented in it's culture. He was doing things that had yet to exist in the culture. It's like it's a God-given talent for him. And those old ugly Ramp Rat-like whatever boards are a bitch to do anything with, so that makes it even MORE impressive.
@@morgellon7877 - At 00:51 the ramp he's riding is Kona Skate Park in Jacksonville Fl. I realize Mullen is from Gainesville & might have been here more often. However Kona is one of the oldest parks still in existence & most pros have been here or still stop by. I'd have to check Hawk's career history, but I recall hearing Kona was his First (or one of) vert ramp contest wins...... So yeah, Hometown footage...🙂
@@greyjackal7221 It is possible it was his first vert ramp win. I've read that was one of the only vert ramps for a while; I think they really started to become prevalent around the early 80's after the parks started closing down. Rodney wasn't too far from Kona; he did freestyle contests there, but mostly skated the slab in his his yard; he did see Gelfand do the ollie somewhere, and I believe it was Kona (not sure if Gelfand was a Kona local, maybe staying with friends off and on in Jacksonville). If it was Tony's original vert contest win, that's pretty cool; I don't know if he'd claim it as a hometown, though, haha! Kona is the one park I'd really love to skate someday. Hopefully one of these days I'll make it out there.
@@morgellon7877 - Oh. Sorry bout that. I meant "My" hometown lol...I spent a good number of years growing up there. It's a cool park if ya ever happen to go there. You can tell where allot of the expansion is cause the original layout still stands as large concrete area of large "roving hills". Lotta fun though...✌
@@greyjackal7221 Oh, haha. That's probably my fault. A while back I saw a photo of Rodney slash grinding a vert wall in probably like 1979 or 1980 and I thought it was Kona, but now that I look at it it's clearly obvious it was a different park, but probably one in Florida. And that vert wall at Kona looks even gnarlier than I remember; I kinda doubt he'd grind that thing, but it is cool that he skated bowls. I've heard in interviews with Tony Hawk that Rodney Mullen could skate vert, but I've only found that one photo (not hard to find in Google images). That original ramp there looked insane, too. A literal half-pipe.
My favorite move was the frontside power carve through the corner at upland. They may have felt the best even though it wasn't a lip trick or an air. That's what pool skating was originally all about. Lines and lines. Speed carve grinds. He is just the master. Imagine what he would of been if he never picked up a skateboard. All that talent would have never been .
I always talked shit about Hawk but now I feel like a total ass for that. Sorry To y I was a dumb teenager who wanted to be you but only had access to street skating. My apologies.
Youre just born with this talent
Definitely not me
Front side 540 in 1985. Crazy. So good!
1984. He said one and a half spins to the Japanese translator. Which means he had it in the bag early 1984 or late 1983.
How young he was inventing so many tricks. Talk about mind-blowing. 👏👊🛹
It's amazing how he can be that good at so young and able to figure things out and ace it before the world of skating and tricks was more stable and cemented in it's culture. He was doing things that had yet to exist in the culture. It's like it's a God-given talent for him.
And those old ugly Ramp Rat-like whatever boards are a bitch to do anything with, so that makes it even MORE impressive.
By 16 he was already off the chart
Dude, sick stuff. Totally awesome that you have a copy/and or the original masters from a lot of this footage. #OfTheEpic
Loved the hometown Kona footage...👍
Your hometown? Hawk is from San Diego. Rodney Mullen grew up skating Kona, though, as did McGill.
@@morgellon7877 - At 00:51 the ramp he's riding is Kona Skate Park in Jacksonville Fl. I realize Mullen is from Gainesville & might have been here more often. However Kona is one of the oldest parks still in existence & most pros have been here or still stop by. I'd have to check Hawk's career history, but I recall hearing Kona was his First (or one of) vert ramp contest wins...... So yeah, Hometown footage...🙂
@@greyjackal7221 It is possible it was his first vert ramp win. I've read that was one of the only vert ramps for a while; I think they really started to become prevalent around the early 80's after the parks started closing down. Rodney wasn't too far from Kona; he did freestyle contests there, but mostly skated the slab in his his yard; he did see Gelfand do the ollie somewhere, and I believe it was Kona (not sure if Gelfand was a Kona local, maybe staying with friends off and on in Jacksonville). If it was Tony's original vert contest win, that's pretty cool; I don't know if he'd claim it as a hometown, though, haha!
Kona is the one park I'd really love to skate someday. Hopefully one of these days I'll make it out there.
@@morgellon7877 - Oh. Sorry bout that. I meant "My" hometown lol...I spent a good number of years growing up there. It's a cool park if ya ever happen to go there. You can tell where allot of the expansion is cause the original layout still stands as large concrete area of large "roving hills". Lotta fun though...✌
@@greyjackal7221 Oh, haha. That's probably my fault.
A while back I saw a photo of Rodney slash grinding a vert wall in probably like 1979 or 1980 and I thought it was Kona, but now that I look at it it's clearly obvious it was a different park, but probably one in Florida. And that vert wall at Kona looks even gnarlier than I remember; I kinda doubt he'd grind that thing, but it is cool that he skated bowls. I've heard in interviews with Tony Hawk that Rodney Mullen could skate vert, but I've only found that one photo (not hard to find in Google images).
That original ramp there looked insane, too. A literal half-pipe.
Devoted
Moonsalts?
Is there somewhere I can find the original footage? I'd like to use it in a documentary project.
My favorite move was the frontside power carve through the corner at upland. They may have felt the best even though it wasn't a lip trick or an air. That's what pool skating was originally all about. Lines and lines. Speed carve grinds. He is just the master. Imagine what he would of been if he never picked up a skateboard. All that talent would have never been .
Today (12/26/22) I am 10 years old and he makes me feel like a loser because at 10 he can do that and I cant even do a handle roll.
Great thank you
Switch 720 is so incredible.
That was Hawk's standard 720. He's goofy footed.
Fakie 720 , the same impressive still!
Holy shit! I didn’t even know this could be done that long ago! Freaking amazing.
The GOAT.
Some of the sounds were really weird brah
😎😎😎
I always talked shit about Hawk but now I feel like a total ass for that. Sorry To y I was a dumb teenager who wanted to be you but only had access to street skating. My apologies.
Alot of people did. But he could be an asshole too. His skating speaks for itself however and no one can take that away from him. He earned it.