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kottke.org posts about Tony Hawk

Tony Hawk’s Last 720

Last night, Tony Hawk posted a video of himself doing a 720 at the age of 52 (a full 2 years beyond the Brimley/Cocoon Line).


Hawk says it’ll probably be his last one โ€” he’s getting too old, his spin is slower, etc. In 2016, at the age of 48, Hawk hit his final 900:

There’s a way in which watching Hawk perform these tricks and watching, say, 11-year-old Gui Khury perform the world’s first 1080 is the same: they’re both attempting something they aren’t sure they can do at that moment. But Hawk has both the benefit and hindrance of wisdom to draw upon here. He knows he can do a 720 because he’s done probably hundreds of them before, but he’s also battling his body, self-doubt, and probably the tiny voice in the back of his head saying “why exactly do you need to do this, dumbass?” Hawk probably knows better than anyone that as you get older, the true battle in sports (and life) is not against others or the record book, it’s against yourself.

Update: On Twitter, @limitedmitch says: “If you want to feel desperately sad today, Tony Hawk has been sporadically doing tricks ‘for the last time ever’ on his Instagram”.


Skateboarding Architecture: A Tour of Legendary Skate Spots

Estelle Caswell talks to Tony Hawk and architectural historian Iain Borden (author of
Skateboarding and the City
) about some of skateboarding’s most iconic spots and how skate architecture has changed over the years, from sidewalks to empty swimming pools in the desert to home-built halfpipes to “if you can see it you can skate it” structures (curbs, handrails, hydrants) all over cities.

Plus, their reference list of historic skateboard videos should keep you occupied for several hours/days/lifetimes.


Tony Hawk on the 21 Levels of Complexity of Skateboard Tricks

Legendary skater Tony Hawk breaks down 21 increasingly complex skateboarding tricks, from a standard ollie to a kickflip to a McTwist to a 1080 to a couple of tricks that have never been done. As someone who has always been in awe of what skaters can do but hasn’t logged much on-board time myself, I learned a lot from this.

See also a beginning skater learning how to do a kickflip in under 6 hours.


Rodney Mullen free style skating

Here’s Kevin Staab, Tony Hawk, and Greg Smith watching a 1983 video of free style skateboarder Rodney Mullen. “Look at him just creating modern street skating, right there”. “Yeah, he goes through this run twice. I’ve seen this video before.” The 1983 version of Tony Hawk makes an appearance at around 3:50 trying to figure out how to ride 2 boards.

This Mullen video from 1984 is even cooler to watch, but there’s no commentary. 1984, by the way, is pretty much the most talked about year on this site.


Tony Hawk does a 900

At 42 years old, with the smile crinkles around his eyes to prove it, Tony Hawk can still do a 900 on a skateboard.

According to Wikipedia, Hawk is one of only four men in the world who have done this trick (he first did it in 1999). He announced on Twitter that he’d done the trick โ€” “P.S. I made a 9” โ€” and on his way out of town left one of his boards at the airport for a lucky fan to find. (thx, dens)