Well I might not be a pro but I know a few things about one of the greatest growing sports in the world, skateboarding.
Skateboarding wasn’t a big hit until the late fifty’s early sixty’s but before that kids used to take roller skate wheels and attach them to two by fours and try to ride them. Not until the late fifty’s when surfers encountered bad waves did skateboarding become more popular. Surfers started experimenting with surfboards and mounting them on wheels to keep them selves occupied.
In 1959 the first roller derby skateboard was for sale and sidewalk surfing began to boom. The first professional boards were designed in 1963 by Makaha and a team was formed to sell the products.
The first skateboard contest was held at the Pier Avenue Junior School
Over the next decade or so skateboarding was mostly underground until a former surfer Frank Nasworthy visited a friend at a plastic company who produced urethane wheels for roller skaters. He found out that the wheels would fit his skateboard so he decided to develop skateboard wheels out of urethane. Once the word got around how wonderful the wheels actually worked skateboarding started to boom again.
In 1978, Alan Gelfand invented the “olie” which is an aerial with out using your hands. Once this took place skating went to the next level. But by the end of 1980 skateboarding had died again because of the competition of BMX.
The first outdoor skate park was build in Florida in 1976 and soon after hundreds of parks were build allover the US.
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