meet a real pretty girl that has nothing to do with skateboarding or knows
anything about it. There are a lot of young ones, so, I mean, I'm 23,
so I've got to watch out around that-18 and over only.
What kind of duties do you have on the road? You're a lot more involv-
ed with NHS in a sales capacity than most pro skaters are with their
respective sponsors, have you gone through the grind there, so to speak?
Yeah. When I started working for 'em in '83 I worked there eight hours
a day, so that sort of killed a lot of skating time. I worked two years
straight and then I made enough money to live on my own, just skating.
and that helped out a lot. Working there I did everything, putting boards
together, silk screening, I did sales for awhile, I'll probably do that
again some day. I still usually go into the warehouse everyday that I'm
home to see what's going on.
Was it good for you, going through the business?
Yeah, it will be. When I'm pretty much through with travelling and
off the road, I think I'll want to go back to work there, something to
do after the skating's over, and I want to do it because I love the sport.
What do you mean "over"?
Not when skating's over, when I drop out of it. You know, Mark Lake's
28, I'm 23, he's still ripping so I've got some time.
What about the team? The Santa Cruz team?
We're pretty filled out now. We've got a lot of amateurs, and now we've
got a really strong pro team and I think we're going to do well next year.
Are you a big part of the team selection?
Not as much now because I'm on the road all the time so Tim (Piumarta)
is doing most of it. We got Grosso back. He's a strong skater, really
good in contests, so there's five of us now that are really strong I think.
Next year is gonna be the year for Santa Cruz. The whole team. I think.
everyone's going to do really well. Take a little bite out of Powell.
Who are some of your favorite skaters on the pro tour? Someone you'll
sit down and watch?
Christian I'll watch. Everyone likes to watch Christian, he's the big-
gest skater in the world right now. There's no doubt about that. Monty
Nolder rips. Any big guy. You see, everyone out there doesn't realize
that big guys have...It's kind of almost twice as hard. Especially airs.
Like Christian is perfect size, he can just flow. Look at Stevie. When
a big guy does an air I think it's a lot gnarlier, like Craig Johnson. He's
fun to watch because he is always off his board. I mean he's on it but
he's off at the same time. He's out of control, but he's in control. He's
a hot skater to watch. I like watching bigger guys. Olson. Watching
Olson in a backyard pool is one of the best things to watch. He just
shreds the fuck out of it. Just grinds the shit out of it, more than a lot
of other people. I'd say he's one of the best ever in a backyard pool.
Do doubt.
How about when you were back in Ohio, did you see many of the known
skaters passing through?
Bowman. Those guys came out to Apple. Lamar and Olson came out
twice. Duane. Duane was...master (laughs). I looked up to him a lot.
No one to this day is doing some of the stuff he did, like rolling into
a pool backwards. A lot of people just don't want to do it because they
don't want to die. He did the thruster.
What is your favorite spot?
One of my favorites is the Arizona pipe. I never skated a big pipe before
and that was so perfect. I had a fun time. That was one of the better
places. Going to that pipe, that's something you don't do everyday. It's
perfect, so smooth, it's giant. Ramps, I like Texas. Skatepark Of
Houston. It's a big ramp. Alabama was a really good ramp. There's
a lot of good ramps. All the ramps are pretty much the same now, about
9 or 10 foot transition. Big transitions are great because you can just
float, it's a good feeling because you go real high, just float up there.
Street skating, jump ramps. I've made my own jump ramps. One for
jumping over cars and one for just learning stuff on, with a good tran-
sition that throws you real high and far without throwing you off your
board.
You made the transition from vert back to street skating and vice versa,
pretty well. How is that?
I was always into street skating. I lot of these guys that street skate and
turn pro that can't even skate vert...I think it's a joke, a big joke.
What about the street style contests you've been involved in?
It's pretty ridiculous now. The street style contest is lame. Street style
on the whole is getting a lot more radder, I think. The wall shit, it's
fun you go straight up a wall, ride it, come down. Airs and jump ramps
are pretty much like they've always been. It's just doing one-footers
now, back then just flying off was enough.
We've heard rumors that the Roskopp model is one of the better selling
boards. What do you make a month? Give us an idea of a pro skater's
salary.
Anywhere from $3500 to $6500 a month, just on the boards. Then
I get endorsements from Local Motion, and Swatch...supposedly.
Wheels and trucks, Slime Balls and Independent. I get paid by both
of those guys. This year people are making more. Christian's probably
making the most. He's making some good money now. He should be
well-off.
You think it's time to re-negotiate the Roskopp contract?
We did that already.
You're comfortable?
Yeah, I'm fine.
How long can this go on? Do you think there's too many pros?
Yeah, right now they should start doing something so that when you
turn pro, you have to earn it. A lot of street guys are just turning pro.
The only good part I see about that is it makes the other pros that are
on top look good. I think there should be some rule to turn pro. Not
a rule really, but some way of earning it. I don't know, rules and regula-
tions; that's not skateboarding.
Like Adrian Demain, he'll be one of the next ones. He's earned it by
winning a lot of contests. Grosso earned it. Nash is coming up, he'll
be a hot pro. We got a lot of guys that could be really good on Santa
Cruz. Some of them we've had problems with. We'll see how they work
that out. Everyone is young too. A lot of them are fifteen. One guy
that's going to be hot to see is Sergie (Ventura) from Virginia Beach.
He's already blasting 8 feet like Christian. In another couple of years.
maybe less than that, he's going to be one of the top ones, Jason Jesse.
that guy is pretty unbelievable. He doesn't care about anything, he just
goes for it.
Do you think there are too many contests?
Yeah. Definitely now. It's kinda out of control. Sometimes there's a
contest on the second week of the month and there's another one at
the end of the month. I think they should have like six contests the whole
year instead of like fourteen or fifteen. Then you got street style contests.
Do contests tend to wear you out and take a toll on you physically?
There's a lot of strain on your body. You really have to put out for those
days and you're always sore for the next couple of days. Everybody
gets injured. For awhile I was really getting banged up. In Texas I almost
killed myself. I knocked myself out. I think if I hadn't had a helmet
on, I'd be dead. I whacked really hard. The day before that I had got-
ten five stitches across my eye. My back was wrenched for about five
months before that. At another Texas contest I got one practice ses-
sion in and went to go eat at some burger joint, and this big Texan walked
right into my foot and broke my toe, so I was out of that contest. Weird
thing. Lately I haven't been getting hurt, but I've had it over the years.
I've gotten hit twice in the head with boards. The day before we went
to the pipe I went up to do a backside air in this pool and lost it, and
the board shot out and it hit me in the head. Micke's going. "Yeah,
you kept running and it kept following you." I got nine stitches and
we went to the pipe the next day and skated, but I was really dizzy.
The bigger you are, the harder you fall. That's definitely my case.
Everybody always asks me if I've lifted weights and stuff. I just grew
somehow. My dad was pretty big. I guess that's why...genes.
How is the skate scene currently in Santa Cruz? Is it nice to come back
to, in addition to having plenty of skating besides?
I really like coming home off the road now. I've got a new place by
myself where I finally have some privacy, sort of, a lot more than 1
did. There are also a lot of good skaters now in Santa Cruz. A really
big scene, with a lot of hot upcoming skaters. There are three guys
who ride for me, two of them live here and one lives in Hawaii. One
that skates vert, Scott Hoffman, has really got his own style. He rips
on ramps and is a good street skater too. Billy Deans from Hawaii is
also a good all-around skater.
What do think about streetplants?
They should go get a two-by-four. First they should balance on their
hands for awhile. You don't need a skateboard because it's not skatebour-
ding in the first place. Maybe one or two of 'em but you're not moving
ROSKOPP
Mugging with Caballero and Steadham in St. Louis.
and skateboarding's all about moving on your wheels. I've seen some
rad ones that impress me, but I just don't see it as skateboarding. At
Oceanside there were guys doing just streetplants for an hour or longer.
I just don't get into it. Riding up walls and wall plants are pretty cool
cause you're working, you're moving. I like skating ditches and reser-
voirs where you can do a lot of different stuff.
You mentioned surfing, have you been surfing since you moved here?
Attempting. I always wanted to try it because it's kinda close to skating
in a way. Not as much as it used to be. I surfed on the East Coast a
couple of times and...yeah, I'm getting better at it.
Snowboarding?
Definitely. I've done that since 78, but since I've been out here, I really
haven't done it because of skating. I used to do it right down my hill.
I had a yellow Sims, the first one. We had a rad run where we'd go
about 25 mph, pretty fast, with banks and jumps. We lived on this hill
and you could go back in the woods on the trails.
Are you happy?
Yeah. I feel a lot better about skating now. Hawaii helped me out. 1
got to practice. I got to kick back. It was a good little break. I got to
sleep in every day, go skating in the afternoon, go surfing.
Do you miss Ohio at all?
There are a few friends, but I've pretty much lost contact with 'em.
Just like I did when I moved from Detroit to Cincinnati. That's where
I was born and raised. In Ohio there weren't that many skaters, so I
didn't have a whole lot of friends. Everyone was like, "Oh, you still
skateboard?" They thought we were little kids. They were more into
the jock sports like football.
So it's a lot different out here?
A lot more stuff to do. It's not boring. It's really boring back there.
Nothing to do. I've met a lot of people. That's one thing about skating.
I've met so many people that it's hard to remember everyone's name.
Just on the road it's insane how many people you meet.
Is it important to have a crew of non-skating friends?
Yeah, just to get away from it. It's good to have friends that you can
do other stuff with, like surf or just about anything. Go play putt-putt
golf or something off the wall.
Have you been surfing lately?
Hawaii was the only place I had a chance to surf lately. Here, I haven't
been home.
Did you pick it up pretty quickly?
Surfing is just like skating; it takes a lot of time. I haven't done it con-
sistently enough yet. I'd go a couple times a week, then slag off for
a couple of months. Or I just won't be around. But I'm picking it up,
getting it down better. It's a lot of fun. It's something new. Like when
I first started skating; it's that rush you get. Especially when you surf
bigger waves, dropping in you get the rush.
What do you think are some of the most significant technological
breakthroughs in skateboarding lately?
Probably the foam boards. That's the biggest in a while although they've
been out before. Kryptonics made a ski-like laminated foam board.
And G & S is doing it now, but they're sorta easily damaged. The one
I've got right now is light, but when you do airs, it kind of falls away
from you. That's the only thing that you have to get used to. For lip
tricks they're really great 'cause they're so light, and you can work them
easier. You can come out of a more difficult invert easier.
I ride it off and on and switch back and forth to wood. I still like the
feeling of wood-because that's all I've ever skated on. I like the crack
it makes when you do harsh lip tricks. I like it when a board makes
noise when I skate.
Do you think that within a year or two everyone will be riding foam?
I don't know which way it's going to go. If more people start making
them, that'll change a lot of things, I think. If everyone gets into it.
a lot of it will go toward foam boards, definitely. That's up to the
manufacturers, if everyone's going to jump on the same bandwagon
or not.
What about the NSA or any skateboard associations?
Well, at Vancouver I think some credit should go to the whole NSA
staff, who really got screwed by the C.A.S.A., but especially Sonja
(Catalano). She was there like, 20 hours straight at one point, every-
day. The whole Vancouver thing was a big letdown, I think. The NSA
ran the whole thing; they were doing everything.
I think on the whole they are trying to promote skating to where it's
never going to be, and that's the Olympics. I don't think it's that kind
of a sport. I've never taken it that way. I've taken contests seriously
but not to the point like I did when I played hockey. That was like.
bloody nose time. I took that a lot more seriously than any skate contest.
The NSA is okay. They're alright. They do have some problems like
everybody else, but I haven't seen anyone else try to do it yet on as
big a scale. The only other person I've seen do contests well was Fausto.
Those were probably the best contests. They were more fun-oriented.
He came up with the jam idea. I think it's better to have everybody
skate and have a big jam like St. Louis. That was way cool. Everyone
was relaxed; there wasn't ever the contest pressure and I had a really
good time. That was probably the most fun we've all had in awhile,
everybody that went there.
Do you think the spectators see the very best skating in that situation?
More so. We're more relaxed and tend to push each other even more.
When you're having fun you have more drive to go farther I think. When
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