Tony Hawk
Tony Hawk
Anthony Frank "Tony" Hawk, nicknamed "The Birdman", is an American professional skateboarder, actor, and owner of skateboard company Birdhouse. Hawk is well known for completing the first documented 900 and for his licensed video game titles, published by Activision. He is widely considered to be one of the most successful and influential pioneers of modern vertical skateboarding...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSkateboarder
Date of Birth12 May 1968
CityCarlsbad, CA
CountryUnited States of America
passion snowboarding skating
I love snowboarding, but I would never want to do it competitively or at a professional level. Snowboarding is a spawn of skating, and skating is my passion.
summer country winter
If you look at the success of snowboarding in the Winter Games and how that's brought a more youthful edge to the Olympics in general, they don't have that with the Summer Games. They don't have anything that's drawing in a younger viewership. To be honest, I think they need skateboarding more than we need them. Skateboarding's popularity is solidified for the most part in a lot of countries.
cultured high kids outside people school understood worldly
I was a lot more cultured than the other kids in my high school. Because I traveled, I understood different cultures and had a more worldly view. Most of the people I went to high school with had never been outside of California.
anyone aspire famous rich small
When I started skating, it was such a small community. You didn't aspire to be rich or famous or make a career out of it because that wasn't something anyone had done yet.
board eleven hung knocked seriously taken teeth time top
When I was around eleven or twelve, my board got hung up on the top of a bowl, and I got a concussion, and I knocked my teeth out. That was the first time that I got seriously injured, and I was taken to the hospital in an ambulance, and my parents briefly doubted.
invented literally shot sites skate techniques tricks videos
When you've got videos up on Web sites that are literally shot the same day, the whole skate community knows right away when new tricks are invented or new techniques are available.
knocking people taking younger
There are endorsements I regret taking when I was younger and didn't know any better. But I didn't have options then. People weren't knocking on my door.
alex amazing coming guy ramp stuff types
In ramp skating, there's this guy Alex Perelson who's really coming into his own and doing some amazing new stuff we haven't seen before. Just different types of spin.
computers good nerdy senior traveling until
I was nerdy and really into computers. I was a good student until my senior year, when I started traveling and had a lot of absences.
bowls eventually figure invited knew literally park people saw skate
I was skating with friends in my neighborhood, and then eventually I was invited to go to the skate park with one of them. When I saw people flying all around - literally flying in and out of bowls - that is when I knew I wanted to do it. I wanted to figure out how I could get there and how I could fly.
calls came definitely hawk pads perfume share
I've definitely had my share of calls where I just laugh. Someone came to me once and wanted to do a signature Hawk cologne. I was like, 'Of what? Sweaty pads? Am I wringing out my pads into a little perfume bottle?'
allowed complete fans promote reach share social technology
Technology has allowed me to reach my fans directly. Social media: it has been a complete revolution of how to interact, promote and share things.
adapt game mobile people realize technology time wanting
You just have to adapt, and you have to realize where people are going to actually play their games. It used to just be Nintendo and PlayStation, and now it's all kind of devices. So you've got to learn to adapt what you know from the technology into those areas... I've been wanting to do a mobile game for a long time.
ate exactly featured following gut hugely involved love options reaction saw shopping skating time video
Any time skating was featured in a video game, I ate it up. So around 1997-98, I was shopping this video game idea. I was weighing my options when I went to Activision, but when I saw what they were working on, I said, 'This is exactly what I'd love to be involved with,' and following that gut reaction was hugely successful.