My run-in with Tony Hawk

Natalie and I went to The Ollie House so I could skate the 4pm-6pm session. I didn't leave work until about 4:15pm so we were a little late. No big deal since they never seem to kick me out at the end of the session anyway. About 20 minutes after we get there, I'm skating the street course, I turn around towards the vert ramp and up on the deck is this tall skinny guy putting on a black helmet. I look at him for a second to see if I recognize him and I did. I turned to Natalie who was 180 degrees the other way and up on the balcony and mouthed to her "Guess who?". She had been looking at him to and mouthed back "Naaaa". I turned back around, saw the signature "Birdhouse" sticker on the front of his helmet and turned back to Natalie and shook my head "Yes it is. It's Tony Hawk". She watched him drop in the ramp and launch a huge backside air on the other side and then do a few more tricks. Then she moved her seat over closer to the vert ramp so she could watch better. I promptly decided I should skate vert for a while and moved over there.

One of the times he walked up the stairs I happened to be waiting to skate right there. I said to him "Congrats on the 900." He said "Thanks." I said "My wife and I watched on ESPN and were totally stoked when you pulled it." Anyway, then it was my turn so I skated my pathetic little run and fell, of course. A little later, Tony went to the upstairs skating area. There's really mellow ramps up there. That's when Natalie and I realized that Riley (his son) was up there skating. He's about 7 years old I think. I skated vert for a few more minutes but then moved over to the street course since there wasn't a single person skating there. After about 30 minutes or so, Tony and Riley came downstairs and started skating the street too. Other people started showing up, but everyone just sat back and mostly watched Tony. I'm not really one to sit back like that so I skated as usual, but tried my hardest not to get in their way. Other people started skating a little more too. Then Tony went back to the vert ramp.

I watched Tony skate the vert again, from the street course. The I got a wild hair up my butt and decided I wanted to skate doubles with him on the vert ramp. I went over to the 7' ramp which is right next to the vert ramp just to get use to the larger transition. After about 10 minutes there, I went up to the vert ramp. I figured all I could do reliably is a 50-50 (where both trucks grind the coping at the top of the ramp). I can do 50-50's about 12 feet long on this vert ramp. Well, except when Tony is watching, then they're only about 6 feet or so. Anyway, I kept practicing to make sure I could do it in the same spot every time and not fall. After a while, Tony walked by and I asked him about a hand plant he does in the Animal Chin video. It's one where he looks like he's going to do a normal hand plant, but flips his head the other way and goes back the same way he came up. I've never seen anyone else do that, and I've never seen him do it again. He said that he can't do it on purpose. It happens on accident when he's trying to stall a hand plant. His balance goes the wrong way and he just flips over to compensate. He calls it a "Flop over". Anyway, then I asked if he would skate a quick little doubles with me. I fully expected him to say no because he doesn't know me from Adam and I could very easily screw up and launch my board at him or something. No, he said "Sure, sounds great!" Oh crap!

We discussed the logistics of what we were going to do. I suggested me doing a 50-50 under his backside air. He asked "Are you regular or goofy". I said "Regular". This means that I stand with my left foot forward. Tony is goofy so his right foot is forward. Then Tony asked "Will you be doing a setup air or something on the other side." I said "I can't air reliably so I'll just axle stall." That's kind of like a 50-50, but I'm not grinding on the coping. I just stall up there on both trucks for a second, then drop back into the ramp. He asked "Do you stall up there for a long time, or just a quick tap and go." I said "I can tap real quick to help you time it." I suggested I do the axle stall, then come back and do the 50-50 so he can see where I'll be at. I dropped in on the far right side of the ramp (my point of view), axle stalled on the other side, came back and did about a 10 foot long 50-50. I came back to the side where Tony was and he said "OK, I'll go at the same time, but I'm going to roll out of the air." That means that he's not going to pull it. He is just going to kind of shoot up onto the deck. This was practice so he could time when to drop in as compared to when I dropped in. The first time we tried that, I screwed up the axle stall and fell. AHHHHHH! He said "No problem" and we tried again. This time I made the axle stall, came back and saw out of the corner of my eye, Tony coming up the ramp ahead of me. He aired and landed on his feet on the deck, and of course I fell on my 50-50. Nerves!

Tony figured out the timing on that last one, even though I fell. He said "OK, we'll go for it this time." I dropped in and Tony dropped in probably about 1/2 second later. I went up for my axle stall and fricken fell again! I was really beating myself up inside because normally I can do these basic tricks. We met on the deck and he said "Let's try again." We dropped in, I made the axle stall. We both headed up the other wall and I went for my 50-50. Truthfully, I think I was watching him blast his backside air and I wasn't watching what I was doing. Of course, I fell again. Sometimes I do fall on an axle stall or 50-50, but not this many times in a row. My stomach was in knots and I couldn't concentrate (or even see straight for that matter). Of course Tony didn't fall on his backside air over me, such a basic trick for him. Anyway, we met up on the deck again and he said "Let's try again." We dropped in, I tried my hardest to concentrate on where I was going and stay on the board. I did my axle stall, came back across and saw Tony coming up to my right. I tried to ignore him and just concentrate on my 50-50. I made it. By now, a small gathering of people were around to watch us and they all started yelling and clapping. Nothing like what Tony is use to with 50,000 people yelling, but I've never had so many people cheering ME on. Anyway, I went up the other side of the ramp and briefly thought about continuing skating, but quickly decided I didn't know what Tony was going to do and I didn't want to be in the way. I just went up the other side and stood on the deck. On my way up I saw Tony out of the corner of my eye. He wasn't slowing down. As I grabbed my board and stood on the deck I looked over and he launched a McTwist. I figured he'd be concerned about where I was and he would be conservative. Guess not! BTW, a McTwist is kind of like a 540 degree revolution (1 1/2 spins), but there's also a forward flip in there. Looks kind of like what divers do off a diving board. Only difference is that there's no water, and he's landing on a piece of plywood with wheels attached. Of course he pulled the McTwist and went back to the other side of the ramp. I immediately dropped in and went to the other side because I wanted to shake his hand and say thanks.

He skated a little longer, but soon took his pads off and watched Riley skate the street course. I skated vert a little longer because I was trying to pull a frontside Smith grind (kind of like a 50-50, but I'm grinding on my back truck, and one of the rails of the board instead of the front truck.) I've pulled a couple of these on this ramp in the last few months, but with no consistency. I kept trying and finally decided I just need to leave my feet on the board and take the slam if it happens. It didn't happen, I pulled the Smith grind. I decided I had enough skating and Natalie and I headed for home.

When we got home, I saw my "Tony Hawk, Professional Skateboarder" book. Tony just released this book and is his autobiography. I had just received the book from Amazon.com the night before and I read the first 1/3 of it already. Natalie and I decided to jump back in the truck and see if Tony would sign the book. When we got there he had already left. Oh well, maybe next time.