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INTERVIEW;
NIKE
BILLY
RUFF
Billy Ruff pads up while pondering a session at some
industrial pipe in San Jose.
How old are you now?
18.
Are you living with your folks?
Yeah. I'm going back to school. Be a
good little school boy for a couple of
years.
Where are you going?
Right now, I'm going to a JC (Junior
College), then I'm going to San Diego
State for a full four.
What's it like at school? Do people know
you because of skating?
Some people know I skate and I've
been in magazines and stuff, but I try to
keep it low key. Like, I'll use a deck to
get from class to class every now and
then and people will notice that I'm
different from most of the other skaters
around. I'll go rippin' down the corridors
doing like, Ty slides and nose wheelies
through the crowd.
Is there a lot of people tooling around
campus on boards these days?
Yeah, there's a lot of stale people. It's
getting cool to ride a skateboard
around school. Like about forty of my
friends that I haven't talked to for years
have called me up you know, "Hey,
Billy, you got any extra decks, I'm in
college now and I need a board to get
from class to class."
Are there any restrictions, like class to
class is cool but don't be doing handplants
off the drinking fountains?
Class to class is not cool.
They got all these signs all over saying
not to skate, bike ride, or rollerskate. I
don't care, I just ride around.
What about skating in general? Is it a
radical lifestyle?
The skaters lifestyle is pretty hot.
You're on your own from the very
beginning. When you start skating and
going to contests you see very few
parents restricting their kids. There are
a few, nobody in particular, but there
are a few. It teaches you how to be an
Individualist and how to take care of
yourself and...it's a lot of fun.
Are skaters individualistic to begin with?
The type of kid that you see getting into
skateboarding, is he different than other
kids that are playing team sports?
The basic skaters...you know...you
see very few rich skateboarders, most
of them come from your lower to middle
class, they got a good home, but they
don't have all the niftie little things that
Johnny has down the street like, you
know, a $4000 motorcyle or a brand
new car or anything like that. They get
into skating 'cause it gives them
something to do. Occupies their time
and it's relatively inexpensive.
Do you think skateboarding is relatively
inexpensive to get into, for your average
kid?
You don't have to pay $120.00 for a
board, you can pay $20.00 and get a
used board and there you are. You can
pay $10.00
If I wasn't sponsored, I wouldn't
skate, just because of the amount of
skating that I do and where I go and
where it takes me and stuff...without the
sponsors, I couldn't do anything. I go
Summit Ramp, coping stall fall.
The Bricks, sweeper hang out.
through a deck...well lately they've
lasted a few months or so...but usually
I'll go through a deck in several weeks.
Do you think that what you get from your
sponsor is worthy of what you guys are
doing for them? Should you be getting
more?
There should be a lot more. Look...be-
fore G&S had the team that they have
now, like Neil, myself, Gatorski, Jim
Gray, all those guys, right, nobody
bought their pool boards, no one right.
Now look at 'em. Look at Powell. Take
Powell for instance. They started off
with the Quicksilver board, who rode
that? Then Stacy took over and he got a
really hot team, now they're one of the
number one companies. The team's the
whole thing, if they (a company) want to
sell their product, they've got to put a
lot of their money into the team, not just
sit back and expect the team to do all
the work. They gotta try and help the
team out. Help the team do the work.
Not just say, well you can't do this
because you didn't do that or you're not
promoting well enough, so you're not
getting this. A company's sales are
based around the team. Everything can
be related back to how the team did this
or who saw 'em where or how one did in
the contest. Some people don't like to
think that but it is.
You been skating lately?
Let's see, for about two hours today.
Truthful?
Seriously?
What do you think of the turnout here at
Whittier and the energy in skating today?
It's pretty hot, there's a lot of people.
It's actually fun again. For awhile there
it got to be boring, now it's starting to
get fun again, going to contests. It's not
like...there's not as much pressure to
do good, as much as there used to be.
Before, you know, if you didn't do good
your sponsors got pissed at you.
Do you think you've done good enough
in skateboarding by winning first overall in
the Rusty Harris Pro/Am, and first overall
as an amateur in the Gold Cup Series?
That's the way it should be. I never
really said "I'm going to win." It just
kind of happened. I'd like to think that I
don't have to do good anymore but I
can't, I always gotta keep trying.
Is that the nature of skating, you're
always trying to do better?
I just always try to skate, I don't care
how good I'm doing. If I'm riding end,
great. If I'm doing bad, too bad.
How do you think you're riding now
I don't know. I don't think I'm going to
win. I might. There are too many good
skaters out there, like Christian, Stevie,
and everyone else is here.
Is there anyone that you think is tops
overall, that you don't like to face in
contests?
I don't like to face anybody in con-
tests. Stevie, mainly, he's doing pretty
good. I always get nervous when I skate
against him. Micke Alba too. He may not
be doing really good before a contest
but he'll improve through the cour
the contest. Whenever I go agains