76 THRASHER
Clockwise from top left:
On the set of the
movie Hook. Early
attitude and a
frontside wallride.
One of the pioneers
of the handrail goes
back to his roots on a
well-torqued lipslide.
Steve Olson did a
kickflip boardslide
shove-it on the rail to
Frankie's left, but
Frankie was the first
to blast off at San
Marcos High.
a little. I went to Santa Barbara City.
College for a two-year span.
My mom, in the meantime, found a
lawyer and told him what had happened
to my knee. The lawyer took my case, and
three years later I was awarded my brand
new knee and thirty thousand dollars. I
also got two years of college paid for,
where I learned how to be a laboratory
technician. In short, I make teeth. It was
almost two years into the dental program.
I only had two years left before I was
going to graduate.
The phone rang in the afternoon at my
hotel room. It was my old friend Loren. He
told me that Kit had died. My best friend
who had moved to San Francisco in 1994.
He took the air out of my sails when he
left. After I couldn't skate anymore all I did
was go to City College part-time. I sat in a
room and thought about what happened to
my life. I got up to go to City College and
now this. Jake Bradley had an accident
that took him out of skating. After Jake
couldn't skate, Brandon Chapman
stopped. The days of public domain were
definitely over and I knew it wasn't good.
I continued on and graduated college on
time. I worked part-time for minimum
wage for a year in Ventura. By this time I
was twenty-six and back at home with my
parents. I saved all my money and more
from that year and started saving to move
out of my parents' house. I got a job soon
after at Dr. Allen, DDS on State Street. My
pay increased and I moved out to down-
town Santa Barbara. I started skating Kit's
last board that he was skating on before he
left. After I couldn't skate the board any-
more, I kept riding the trucks. For some
reason I was able to skate for the first time
in five years. I skated for a year and then
started a skate company called Legion
Skateboards. I spent all of my savings on
the company that I had acquired from the
last year and half. The company is start-
ing to
o do better and we came out in issue
#31 of 411.
What I have to say is if you don't die then
you better get back up and start trying
again. It's truly amazing what life brings:
the great highlights and the great despair.
I'm twenty-seven now and life is starting to
look up again. Got to be careful. Mike
Vallely told me once when I was trying to
boardslide a fifteen-stair handrail, "When
you feel the most comfortable about what's
going on, that is the time to be the most on
your game, because you never know
what's around that sharp curve."
I'd like to thank Dad, Mom, sister, Loren,
Kit, Brandon, Jake, Damian, Pablo, Stacey
D, Brian, Frankie Hill Sr, Mike D, Vital
shoes, Gullwing trucks, Domi D, Tommy T,
and Stow for helping through the hard
times. Everyone who
gave a shit about a
dirty little kid from Santa Barbara. For
more. information about Legion
Skateboards, send a dollar for a sticker and
catalog to: 1416 Las Positas Place, Santa
Barbara, CA 93105. Or call 805-569-1318
and ask for Loren, Frankie, or Doug.
Thanks. Frankie Hill
more
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