Top 10 Most Influential Skateboarder

I think extreme sports is the best metaphor for life.

It’s dangerous. It can kill you or make you a vegetable for life. I don’t know which one is worse.

Many people think they’re good at it but very few actually are.

People settle doing the same tricks that worked for other people but only those who dare to put their life, limbs and testicles on the line actually make a difference.

That being said, below are the ones who should be considered the savior because they didn’t only do well for themselves but showed us all that – you should never be afraid of death as long as you die trying to master life.

10. Mike Valley and Andy McDonald

Mike and a few friends headed down to watch a contest of pro skateboarders which inspired him to skate. Mike began drawing attention from the visiting pros from atop the vert ramp. Neil Blender was particularly impressed and came down from the ramp to talk to Mike and asked to show him some more of his tricks.

The next day at the contest, the word was out about Mike and his new and inventive tricks and style and attracted the attention of professional skateboarder, Lance Mountain and Stacy Peralta, both of Powell Peralta and Bones Brigade fame. After seeing Mike riding a board that was in such poor condition, Lance Mountain gave him a brand new complete skateboard. After putting on an impromptu demo in the parking lot of the contest, Lance asked Mike if he would like anymore skateboards.

Confused by what Lance meant at first, Lance was in fact offering Mike a sponsorship to Powell Peralta Skateboards and Mike answered with a resounding yes. This day is also historic for the first interactions Mike had with Mark Gonzales and Steve Rocco.

It wasn’t just Peralta who plucked Vallely out of obscurity that day. Thrasher Magazine also took photos of Vallely performing his tricks in the handplant circle, one of which eventually made its way onto the cover of Thrasher’s August, 1986 issue. It was also at this time that Vallely’s new sponsor had him on an airplane for the first time to fly to California to compete at the Oceanside “Street Attack” contest in July in Oceanside, California. Vallely won the amateur division which got him a full page spread in Transworld Skateboarding’s September issue.

The rest, as they say, is history.

*1st in 1996-2000 World Cup
*1st in 1997-2002 X Games: vert doubles (with Tony Hawk)

9. Bam Margera and Daewon Song

Margera has been a member of Team Element, the demonstration team for Element Skateboards. He is also sponsored by Speed Metal Bearings and Fairman’s Skateshop. Although Margera does not compete at higher levels of skateboarding, his large sponsorship packages assure him of “pro” status.

Song is known for his vast array of creative ledge, manual, and transition tricks, as well as for his fusion of “old school” and modern tricks into new variations. These extremely technical contributions have earned him a place as one of the most celebrated technical skateboarders of the modern era. Song has also received acclaim for his creativity in skateboard videos, where he is frequently featured skating obstacles previously considered “unskateable” or unworthy of professional attention. Although his style is extremely technical and operates on a small scale, he has performed these tricks on a larger scale and with increased risk in several videos.

8. Ryan Sheckler

*youngest person to win a gold medal in skateboarding is Ryan Sheckler who won a gold medal at 13 yrs. old in 2003
*won the gold medal in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A, during August 17, 2003
*participated at the ESPN X Games 9.

Hardcore. It’s just hardcore.

7. Tony Alva

He is Professional Skateboarding’s first World Champion in history. He won this title in 1977.

The level of aggression with which Alva skated was in stark contrast to the traditional style of the era which was still based around tricks formulated in the 1960s. Alva and the other Z-Boys were among the first to bring skating empty pools into the mainstream. In these early days, it was noted that Alva was hitting the lip so hard that he was actually taking off, hence Alva is often credited for the first recorded aerials, a frontside air, although Alva himself claimed that George Orton was the first to perform aerials (Skateboarder magazine, July, 1978).

6. Bucky Lasek

Lasek mastered tricks that are considered too gimmicky and technical by most riders to do in a contest, and lands them with stunning regularity. Some of his signature contest tricks:
*Heelflip Frontside Twist
*Switch Frontside 540
*He is one of only two skaters to flip his board in to an invert (Heelflip Frontside Invert)
*the only one to do a 720 on the vert and land backwards (forward-to-fakie Indy 720, known as a “MacKenzie”).

As of 2006, Bucky Lasek has won ten medals at the X Games, including six gold medals.

Has the highest score in X Games Skateboarding Vert history with a 98.50.

He has also earned 2004 titles in the Vans Triple Crown, Gravity Games, and the Slam City Jam.

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