Recently, The Nine Club celebrated their 100th episode today by bringing Tony Hawk onto the show. The entire two and a half hour podcast is filled with laughs and entertainment, but here are the 3 most interesting things we learned about everyone’s favorite skateboarder.
It Took Him 10 Years to Land the 900 Hawk worked on landing a 900 for 10 years before finally putting it down at the 1999 X-Games. After the first 5 years of working on it, he broke his ribs while training. For the remaining 5 years, he worked on it off-and-on because he was spooked from his injury. When he finally landed it at the X-Games in 1999, he said that he didn’t walk into it that night thinking that it was going to happen. In fact, he said, that “It just happened. Mostly because the ramp was good enough for me to see my landing.”
His First Skateboard Was a Hand-Me-Down From His Brother Interestingly enough, Hawk was never a fan of holding onto his trophies. He said in the podcast, “Winning all these contests was never a really big deal. I wanted to stay current without constantly reflecting on my past.” With that being said, he did manage to hold onto his first skateboard ever. That is, until donating it to Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in 2013. And yes, he asked for his brother’s permission first.
The Video Game Series Changed His Life When the 4th Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater video game was released, his main contact at the game developing company, Activision invited him to lunch. They sat down and his contact said, “Listen, things are way bigger than we ever thought. The last three games are still top 10 in sales and the first edition is still our best-seller,” and then handed him a 4 million dollar check. This check allowed Hawk to stop competing and start doing things that he always wanted to do with his life, including starting the Tony Hawk Foundation. Tony Hawk elegantly describes his life and how he never planned on being the image for skateboarding, but because he is, he is happy to use his platform to give back to the sport that gave him so much. We’re all very lucky to have such a positive force in the most popular adventure sport. More Skateboarding News From ASN: Starting This Summer, Bam Margera’s ‘Castle Bam’ House Will Be Listed on Airbnb Mini Ramp Built Within Ice Rotates Like a Carousel; Video Pro Skater Guy Mariano on First Video Part and His 25-Year Career
For access to exclusive gear videos, celebrity interviews, and more, subscribe on YouTube!
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Recently, The Nine Club celebrated their 100th episode today by bringing Tony Hawk onto the show. The entire two and a half hour podcast is filled with laughs and entertainment, but here are the 3 most interesting things we learned about everyone’s favorite skateboarder.
It Took Him 10 Years to Land the 900
Hawk worked on landing a 900 for 10 years before finally putting it down at the 1999 X-Games. After the first 5 years of working on it, he broke his ribs while training. For the remaining 5 years, he worked on it off-and-on because he was spooked from his injury. When he finally landed it at the X-Games in 1999, he said that he didn’t walk into it that night thinking that it was going to happen. In fact, he said, that “It just happened. Mostly because the ramp was good enough for me to see my landing.”
His First Skateboard Was a Hand-Me-Down From His Brother
Interestingly enough, Hawk was never a fan of holding onto his trophies. He said in the podcast, “Winning all these contests was never a really big deal. I wanted to stay current without constantly reflecting on my past.” With that being said, he did manage to hold onto his first skateboard ever. That is, until donating it to Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in 2013. And yes, he asked for his brother’s permission first.
The Video Game Series Changed His Life
When the 4th Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater video game was released, his main contact at the game developing company, Activision invited him to lunch. They sat down and his contact said, “Listen, things are way bigger than we ever thought. The last three games are still top 10 in sales and the first edition is still our best-seller,” and then handed him a 4 million dollar check. This check allowed Hawk to stop competing and start doing things that he always wanted to do with his life, including starting the Tony Hawk Foundation.
Tony Hawk elegantly describes his life and how he never planned on being the image for skateboarding, but because he is, he is happy to use his platform to give back to the sport that gave him so much. We’re all very lucky to have such a positive force in the most popular adventure sport.
More Skateboarding News From ASN:
Starting This Summer, Bam Margera’s ‘Castle Bam’ House Will Be Listed on Airbnb
Mini Ramp Built Within Ice Rotates Like a Carousel; Video
Pro Skater Guy Mariano on First Video Part and His 25-Year Career
For access to exclusive gear videos, celebrity interviews, and more, subscribe on YouTube!
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More News
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Here's the Difference Between Bourbon and Whiskey
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