Begin.
I'm not sure what year it was, but I got ad-
dicted to skateboarding as soon as I started
doing it. We used to butt-board around little
kid style, picking up speed going down hills.
We finally figured out that the way to do it
was by standing up. I took off from there I
guess. From skating quarter-pipes down the
street to the skateparks when I was thirteen,
I kept progressing to the stage where I'm at
now. We weren't serious at first, but we kept
at it because we liked it.
How would you compare skating, terrain
and people's attitudes now to when you
first started going to parks?
Well, the terrain in the parks was much bet-
ter than what we have now. As for the skating,
ramps helped it become more bio. Vertical
terrain now is not varied enough.
I think it was more fun before all this spon-
sorship stuff got so involved. Well, not more
fun, just different. Once you know how things
work in the "business," everything you pic
tured in your mind ends up different. It's a
little discouraging at times, but so long as
you love to skate it's not going to affect you
too badly.
You were the guy from New Jersey that
everyone knew was good, and wanted on
their East Coast team. But it seemed like
you were having some problems. What
happened?
Outside of Brad Bowman flowing me stuff
at Cherry Hill, Madrid was my first real spon-
sor. I liked skating for Madrid, but they ex-
pected me to pay half of my expenses as a
pro. That was bullshit, and besides, I couldn't
afford it. I shined that idea and went to San-
ta Cruz. I was stoked skating for them,
because I thought I fit them and they fit me.
Things did not work out with those guys
because I busted all their boards, they didn't
sent me new ones often enough, and there
weren't graphics on them or whatever. Then
I had problems trying to get reimbursed for
something they asked me to do and they said
they would reimburse me for, so I quit. I was
a little kid back then and all this was like
candy to me, so I really didn't care too much
anyway. But I didn't like being taken advan-
tage of. Then Brad (Dorfman) came up to me
at a contest in Florida and asked me to ride
for him (Vision), so I did.
coast) to get photos taken on all these
over-photographed ramps, and I think that's
pretty weak.
Overall things are cool now, but there is
definitely a communication gap between
most skaters on the east coast and
their west coast sponsors, although
it's getting better. Now that there are
more pros out here you'll hear the
same complaints from all of them. I
know they want us out here, but at
times you'd believe there's a great
lack of appreciation for the Eastern
pro skater.
What did you say about street
skating in another interview that
caused controversy?
I just said that it was imitation vert-
ical because a lot of the tricks people
are doing seem to be dorked vertical
tricks. Don't get me wrong, there's
some rad stuff, but I'd much rather
skate vertical. It's more of a rush to
skate vert. With vertical comes speed.
I mean, as soon as you drop into the
ramp you're going nearly as fast as
if you were shooting a hill. Not to men-
tion, after you blast an air. There's no
way in the world you can beat that.
Street skating is fun when you're
bored with vert.
Are you saying that's the only time
people should do it?
Well, that's the only time I feel like
doing it. I don't ever go, "Yeah, let's
go session this curb."
What is skating to you?
Skateboarding is my big escape from life.
As soon as I skate, I'm in my own world. I
guess it's an art, because you can't judge
it effectively unless you break it down trick
for trick, have compulsories. As for compar-
ing skating styles, there's no way. That's the
art of it. The only thing that makes it a sport
is the contests, and we all know how we feel
about those. Yeah, I enter every one I can,
but they have nothing to do with why I skate.
How important was Cherry Hill to your
skating back when you got in heavy?
Well, Cherry Hill helped everybody from
this area progress. Seeing the pros there
whenever they visited helped me out a lot.
Jamie Godfrey, Mike Jesiolowski and Victor
Perez (Philly locals)-it was a good influence
You almost left them a couple of times, seeing those guys carve lines and work the
didn't you?
Well, things get sketchy here and there.
They always seem to. I finally got a board out
that I was happy with, but they never pro-
moted any of my stuff consistently. They real-
ly lagged on that aspect of the deal. That's
a pain. They also lag on getting photos of
me back here, so I have to go out there (west
46
pools completely. In a park you learn how to
ride your skateboard both frontside and
backside. People from that era learned how
to turn their skateboards.
What do you mean?
It just seems that people who learn on
ramps now wouldn't be able to ride a pool
Previous Page: Jersey boy and a New York
skyline. Below: Tom thrusts high in a wood
three-quarter pipe. Photo: Rob Mertz. Right:
Whipping it backside in the Hellhole.