The first time I saw Tony Hawk was in the X-Games 2003, Skating had already had a long period of acceptance in the USA but in my country we were just getting the first transmissions of this type of events where Skate was the main course, I had already had contact with this sport by other means but I will always remember that performance of Hawk for what it meant to me, it was inspiring how he landed every 900 in an almost effortless way, it was clear that he had perfected this trick and was the best, and it made me wake up the next day determined to buy my first skateboard, I don't think many athletes have this label of being inspirational in such an underground sport as Skateboarding was in 2003, but still, Tony did it.
So maybe I should tell you a little bit about the origins of this legend, so that with every paragraph I write about him you will feel what I feel when I write about my great idol, Tony Hawk, initially it is not that you can say that he was glued to the skateboard since he was a baby but he had a very clear influence to lean to this, his brother was a long time member of the skateboard scene and was the first to give him a skateboard and introduce him to the world of underground skateboarding, the young Anthony Hawk was often described as a hyperactive young man very demanding with himself so this new adventure on the skateboard was a transformer of that chaotic energy that the young Hawk had.
It wasn't long before Anthony's talent for skateboarding became apparent, a product of a mentality that many of his family members referred to as 'like an adult being trapped in the body of an 8 year old' and that drove the young man to practice every day until by the time he was 12 years old he was a signed and promoted athlete, These were the beginnings of a wave of attention towards Skateboarding and that also announced the creation of their own particular games where Skateboarding would have a special place, but in these years of his youth the young skateboarder would become in a few years considered as one of the best in the world.
Anthony won several competitions, in the middle of all this he changed his commercial name to simply Tony Hawk, and in the middle of the fever for skateboarding he settled as one of its most famous faces forming with his brother the National Skateboard Association and forming one of the teams that were going to guide all this energy to their events, the Bones Brigade were not good, they were the best in the world and now had in their ranks a young man who killed everyone with his tricks but still lacked the last blow to become immortal.
The opportunity would come a couple of years later with the series of events that all extreme athletes needed, the X-Games opened in 1995 with the participation of several underdogs that until then had not seen such a large audience so it relaunched a little skateboarding in the U.S., and also saved a little bit of skateboarding in the USA. Hawk did what he knew best, skateboarding, and for several years was building a reputation in these games that were held annually until in 1998 with his reputation to the skies is that he knew his way to world fame.
It was the X-Games of 1998 with skateboarding already touching its best moments and with all eyes on a trick, the 900s which is based on making two and a half turns in a ramp (900 degrees) and that was considered an impossible trick until in these X-Games we saw it in the hand of Birdman in a competitive stage, It was one of the last competitions of the Hawk but not even close to be away from the public eye because shortly after he would be contacted to sign several agreements that would put his name in the video game, and I know that many of those who are outside the Skate know Tony through this medium so let's talk a little more about this.
It may seem crazy but EA's Pro Skater series of games that uses Tony Hawk as its main image has broken several records and has put video game critics at the feet of this figure, it is here where the sales of numerous deliveries have caused the skateboarder who is now over fifty is the first skateboarder millionaire with a fortune of over 100 million dollars, Today Hawk is the leader and founder of several foundations that promote skateboarding around the world and although he has been away from the competitive scene for several years I can't imagine a more relevant extreme athlete today than old Tony, as well as a source of inspiration for those of us who practice this sport.
What does Tony Hawk mean to you?
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