T o p s i d e r

I'd like to meet:

Satan's Little Sister

This skating thing started in 1967 or 68 on the lower east side of Manhattan. A pillow a roller skate and a smooth basement floor in our high-rise on East 19th. St. Skateboarding really took off for me when we moved to the Tampa Bay area in 1971.
The onset of plastic decks (Proline?), Chicago single-action trucks, and Roller Sports loose-ball wheels - Mark IV(?). Riding that first "real" laminate glass and wood board I had was better than smoking crack. All hell broke loose when the new skating materials kicked-in and of course products like Cadillac, Road Riders, Power Paws, Bahne, etc. came onto the scene.
Some heroes of mine from the mid '70's era; Mellow Cat, Steve Olson, David Hackett, George Powell (gave me a prototype set of Bones before Stacey Peralta chimed-in), Henry Hester, all the original La Costa boys - Marty Schaub too, and of course Tony Alva.
I Moved back to NYC in the fall of 1976. Started skating Central Park, on to Cherry Hill, and did casual exhibitions for Blizzard Skies and entered local and some smaller national events. Around this time I skated with folks like Theo Spilka, Rudy Urie, Andy Kessler, Jane Pincus, The son of the guy who owned City Skates on 84th or 83 St. (can't recall his name or the street), and John Gilmour. At the time Andy was one of the best skaters around I would say on the East Coast. John G. and I have tried to piece this together - we're not sure what we each looked like 30 years ago so we're drawing a bit of a blank on this - same skate circle for sure. "Highway Hill" and the slalom course across from where "The Good Skates" (Tavern on the Green) used to be is where we made some NYC history. We would skate that slalom course all day long during the summer to crowds 4 and 5 bodies deep. Cones were beer cans or thread cones from the garment district on seventh avenue.
I got busy earning money around 1982 and lost track of skating. I skated very infrequently until 1984 and then things just stopped. Now at 47, with two teen boys, I'm back in the game..., back trying to make up for too much lost time. I am globally ranked as an Am and frankly wouldn't care if I wasn't - I'm having too much fun! Links to curent stuff below...
International Slalom Association

SilverFish Longboarding

Northern California Downhill Skateboard Association

Post race ice cream Antrim 2008; from left - Gatlin Guns, me, Wentzyl, Cat,Bobby T, Rick - PHOTO: CAT
Youngblood #1 (Black Headgear)
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