5 Greats: Tony Hawk
12/10/2023
Tony’s been in the driver’s seat for some of the biggest moments in our humble history. And he's still hittin' today! Comin’ back strong from that devastating leg break, he's got a heavy new part out. So we hit up our first SOTY and skateboarding’s global ambassador to drop his official lists for the top skateparks, contest adversaries, hazing episodes and demo enders in this career-spanning piece from our January ‘24 mag.
Still churning out new combos at his compound, Tony once again gives us the product of progressive skating in his must-watch final part
- Evel Knievel
- The Fonz
- James Bond
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- Eddie Elguera
- Day-glo
- High socks
- Two Swatches
- Half shirts
- Sun-In
A fledgling Hawk, tucked and padded at Pipeline, 1981
- Rodney Mullen
- Eddie Elguera
- Mark Gonzales
- Ben Raybourn
- Reese Nelson
- Smiles
- Creativity
- Flow
- Not snaking
- Encouraging others
- Starship Troopers
- Wild at Heart
- Aliens
- Minority Report
- The ’Burbs
- Clash, London Calling
- Kraftwerk, Electric Café
- Pixies, Doolittle
- The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
- Radiohead, OK Computer
Steadying an invert to fakie at Del Mar’s final contest, 1986. Yep, he won Photo: Omer
- Christian Hosoi
- Jimmy Wilkins
- Kareem Campbell
- Andrew Reynolds
- Lizzie Armanto
- Frontside 540/rodeo
- 360 varial
- Stalefish
- Frontside hurricane
- Frontside blunt
- Half-Cab to frontside rock
- Backside varial
- Finger-flip air
- Frontside 540
- Airwalk
- The arcade: Track & Field, Q*bert, Defender, Moon Cresta, Yie Ar Kung-Fu, Gauntlet, Battlezone and Dragon’s Lair
- Shooting photos with Grant whenever possible
- Figuring out which yellow-bus route got closest to the park so I could go straight there after school
- Slamming in the halfpipe and waking up in an ambulance
- Chaotic, violent games of tag in the reservoir
Massive floater at the end of the 80s. Fallbrook, CA Photo: Ortiz
- 540 board varial—like a baton twirl
- Frontside Cab disaster
- Heelflip slob
- Cab revert
- Cannonball 540
- All-day sessions with fun crews
- Countless hippers
- Getting sued by a kid that got hurt—even though I wasn’t home and he didn’t have permission to skate
- Filming my Ban This part over three consecutive days and nights—I had never felt so exhausted
- Having to tear it down; it took weeks and I hated every minute of it
No helmet? Natural gnar for Tony’s 1986 cover while filming for Animal Chin Photo: MOFO
- Getting beat up at recess
- Getting spit on at the skatepark
- Called “skater fag” by classmates
- Called “Bony Cock” by other skaters
- Compared to a mosquito and labeled a “circus skater” by Thrasher
- Leather jackets
- Small, tightly-packed club
- Homemade trophy
- Chauffeured by Kevin Thatcher
- Standoff vibe from a few diehard NorCal vs SoCal holdouts
- Bowl cut
- McSqueeb
- Hurried, mangled cut to match David Spade’s hair for Police Academy 4
- Buzzed—twice, briefly
- Ponytail
- Always rooming with Tommy
- Laughing at Lance’s behind-the-scenes antics
- Stacy disappearing after a stressful day in Bakersfield
- Off-roading in the Caddy
- Slamming at Wallows and getting my first staph infection—of many to follow
- McTwist
- Tail-drag manuals
- One foots
- Big-ass wallrides
- Tail-grab noseslides
- “Engage with your fans”
- “Don’t get shitfaced” —He gave us this advice at the Future Primitive premiere
- “Don’t break the 180” —In reference to angles of shooting/editing
- “If you are going to start your own brand, trust your instincts because you have a good eye for new talent” —Paraphrased from when I left Powell to start Birdhouse in 1992
- “Consider your legacy”
Choose your side: Hosoi vs Hawk. Vision Skate Escape, 1987 Photo: MOFO 
- Christian Hosoi
- Danny Way
- Jeff Phillips
- Andy Mac
- Tom Boyle
- Backside 360 ollie to frontside Cab
- Invert to invert to fakie
- Back lip to Madonna
- 5-0 to fakie to Caballerial
- McTwist to 360 varial—aka the crowd pleaser
- My first—Bahne, which is now in the Smithsonian
- Sims Andrecht
- Dogtown Triplane
- First Cab model—propeller graphic
- Sims Jeff Phillips painted by Kurt Cobain
- OGs: Jeremy Klein, Andrew Reynolds, Heath Kirchart, Willy Santos, Steve Berra, Bucky Lasek, Matt Beach, Ocean Howell, Jaws
- Lizzie Armanto
- Elliot Sloan
- Shawn Hale
- Reese Nelson
Spreading the stoke Down Under, 1988 Photo: Needham
- Laughing in the front of the van with Klein
- Asking/begging for $300 from shop owners after we skated so we could eat, get gas and pay for one hotel room to share
- Taking a reluctant crew on a field trip to Graceland in Memphis
- Skating with two severely rolled ankles while still holding all the responsibilities of tour manager
- Coming home with clinical cases of jock itch and athlete’s foot because we rarely had time for laundry
- Edit low-budget commercials
- Fly to Japan to do skate demos INSIDE a small skate shop for a crowd of 20
- Be a technical consultant on Hollywood shoots because I was “too old” to be the featured skater—at age 25
- Talk about Toucan Sam as if he was my real-life extreme-sports buddy
- Corporate speaking gigs—which I still do
Backside melon over an SF “street spine.” Back to the City 2, 1991 Photo: MOFO
- You love to gamble
- You have a solid local crew and none of them have sponsors
- You have a huge social-media following
- You have found a niche audience for old-school shapes, freestyle boards or—slalom?
- You have figured out how to recreate OG Bones Brigade decks that fool the most ardent experts
- Powell tour mini
- A four-foot high, six-foot wide quarterpipe set up on grass loosely covered with plywood in Perth
- Skank Skates (IYKYK)
- Ocean Beach (Robb Field) over the hip
- Bare Cover demo ramp—eight-foot wide, four feet off the ground, no flat bottom
- Tom Cruise “summoned” me to his house to meet about a 3-D film project that never happened
- Meeting Tupac at an event in 1994
- Christian Slater, Adam Corolla, Adrien Brody and Keanu Reeves all hopped in my car to get barbecue ribs before the Long Beach Grand Prix
- Gave Kid Cudi, Miley Cyrus and Mark Wahlberg skate lessons at my ramp—all separately
- Having coffee next to Chris Rock the morning after his Oscars debacle
- 540—on almost anything in my younger days
- Flip dismount onto the deck
- ’80s run: boneless, airwalk, Miller flip, Losi plant, rocket air, spaghetti western
- A basic doubles over/under trick
- Frontside disaster just high enough to break my board so I can’t skate anymore. Oops, that was supposed to be a secret
With leftover ramps from the 70s, Tony kept vert alive in the 90s. Stale fakie for a decent St Louis crowd Photo: Atiba
- “Careful, the tide is going down and the wind is picking up.” —My brother, minutes before I bounced through a Fijian reef
- “You should try stretching before you skate.” —Many people throughout the years
- “You should invest in Uber with me.” —Chris Sacca, in 2010
- “I should go see Joe Strummer perform.” —Me, in 2002
- “Watch out—it’s pretty slow and bumpy.” —Bob Burnquist, regarding his loop just before I broke my pelvis, 2003
- First loop attempt
- Jumping between two seven-story buildings for MTV
- Tow-in surfing in Maui
- Jumping out of a hovering helicopter onto a perilous mountain ridge in Alaska on a snowboard trip
- Realizing my leg was broken in two as I’m sliding across the flat bottom
Let the media blitz begin! Extreme Games, 1995 Photo: KT
- Can I get a selfie?
- When is the next game coming out?
- What are you doing in town? Is there a skate event?
- How’s your leg?
- Did anyone ever tell you that you look like Tony Hawk?
- Jack Black
- Ted Lasso
- Tony Conrad
- Nick Cave
- Robert Smith
Fakie scratch at Baldy while The Boss holds down the bridge, 2020 Photo: Burnett
- Bacon, egg and cheese biscuit at McDonald’s
- Number 2 with no onions at In-N-Out
- Rolled tacos with guacamole at Roberto’s
- Turkey with provolone, avocado, mustard and peppers at Subway
- Buffalo 66 at Plant Power
- Catherine O
- Kevin Staab
- Greg Smith
- Sean Mortimer
- Jason Ellis
- It’s a carve, not a trick
- DO NOT PUMP
- Get in a slight squat as you hit the transition and hold it all the way through
- Only look a few feet ahead
- Stay in the middle
- Stand up only after you reach flat
- Linea Micra espresso machine—wedding gift for Riley
- Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival tickets—for my daughter
- Crispin Glover rat movie
- Reservations at Retro Vegas
- The Clash “Stay Free” lyrics
Frontside invert, last week at Vans, HB Photo: Burnett
- Steve Caballero
- Danny Way
- Bucky Lasek
- Bob Burnquist
- Jimmy Wilkins/Tom Schaar
- Frontside 180 The Gonz Gap
- Lipslide down Roosevelt rail
- Backside 360 flip on Beryl Banks
- Ollie over two stacked trash cans from the bank at
School Q - Boardslide the Wilshire cathedral rail for Ban This in 1989
- Rodney Mullen, October 1982, first flatground ollie
- Jake Phelps memorial cover, June 2019
- Felipe Nunes, November 2019, 14-stair 5-0
- Jeremy Wray, November 1997, ollie between the water towers
- Carabeth Burnside, August 1989, frontside air—first woman on the cover
- I’ll be out of town that day (probably true)
- Or, conversely: Sorry, but it’s the only day I’ll be home that week (less likely)
- I gotta take my daughter to school/theater rehearsals/lacrosse/tumbling
- That’s way past my bedtime
- Tell them my appearance fee
Family first—BSO over Riley Hawk’s lien tailslide Photo: Burnett
- Hearing their laughter
- Seeing them commit selfless acts
- Knowing they’ve found their passions
- Getting to skate with them all over the world
- Being influenced by their tastes in music, media and fashion
- DMSR
- Big O
- Kona
- SPoT
- Warehouse: THPS
- The safety and well-being of our children
- Hanging up
- Getting caught inside on a big set
- Alzheimer’s
- Slippery ramps
- Can you FaceTime with my friend/kid/mom real quick?
- Do a 900 (on any given terrain)
- Send me money
- Please come to my wedding (I get these a lot lately)
- Sign my ____ (fill in the blank with the most private of parts)
- John Oliver
- Steve Buscemi
- Larry David
- Sigourney Weaver
- Jeff Grosso
- Driving/traffic
- Bubbles in my griptape
- New trucks and bushings
- Changing diapers—but it’s been a while
- Bruises, cuts or lacerations
- Haters talking shit online
Frontside blunt in the Linda Vista taco, 2023 Photo: Burnett
- Reese Nelson
- Tate Carew
- Ginwoo Onodera
- Asahi Kaihara
- Chloe Covell
- Salba
- Lance Mountain
- Bucky Lasek
- Andy Macdonald
- My wife
- You or me, depending on the day
- Help guide our kids into healthy adulthoods
- Find a solution for my neck pain that allows me to keep skating
- Help get more skateparks built
- Get vert in the Olympics
- Grow old with the love of my life
Madonna to switch crooks fakie and the tricks keep coming. Thank you, Tony, for a lifetime of inspiration Photo: Burnett-
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NHS Museum Opening Photos
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