Tony Hawk: Ascent of a high roller - The Age

Ascent of a high roller
Sarah Whyte
December 6, 2010

Tony Hawk

His empire is worth millions but the world’s most celebrated skateboarder tells Sarah Whyte he didn’t set out to become rich and famous.

TONY HAWK is walking through a noisy, crowded skate park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and he’s distracted. He has just skated in front of 500 fans and his mind is elsewhere.

“It’s a little hectic right now,” he says in his smooth Californian drawl, as he walks surrounded by a swarm of minders and agents.

At 42, Hawk’s life is still dominated by skating. As the world’s most famous skateboarder, he has created a skating empire comprising a clothes range, a charity, a film production company and a range of video games.

He is worth millions and his name is mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.

But for Hawk, fame has come as a surprise and has always taken a back seat to his skating.

“I think fame works differently for everyone,” he says. “For me, it was a strange aspect to what I did because I never set out to be famous. Like, when I started skating, to aspire to be the best skater - it just meant that you got free gear, you know what I mean?

“Maybe you got your picture in a magazine but it didn’t mean that you had a career that was going to be recognised out of the small skateboard bubble.

“So for me it was a really strange phenomenon. People take up other sports, even skateboarding now, [and] there is a sense that if you get to be one of the best, then you will be famous.”

Yet his fame doesn’t deter the father of four from dedicating his life to the skate park.

“For some people that is their inspiration to be famous - they’re totally different beings and they’re totally treated differently,” he says.

“If you try and rest on your previous accolades, then people will forget about you very quickly.”

Hawk was introduced to the skateboard at age 11 by his brother Steven, immediately embracing it as a four-wheeled sphere of freedom and release.

“Skating gave me this sense of calm and confidence that nothing else had,” he says.

“It really gave me a way to focus my energy and I guess it gave me more of a sense of purpose. Unlike other sports, every time I skated I would get better at it and that was my motivation.

“I didn’t have to worry or rely on teamwork and I liked that I could do it at my own pace and do it at my own style and, you know, on my own terms.”

It was when he started competing, Hawk says, that he learnt how to really hone his skills and refine his technique.

“It was the freedom of skating that drew me to the sport,” he says.

“I realised what was possible and I saw people flying, literally flying around, and I knew that’s what I wanted to do and I wanted to do it as much as I could.”

And flying is no exaggeration of what Hawk is famous for. Only months ago he skated for a captive audience of 35,000 people on a beach in Barcelona. “If there is ever a time when you are going to try your hardest stuff, that’s the time,” he says. “It’s amazing, you do everything you can possibly do.”

Videos show Hawk executing an array of dazzling manoeuvres - including his famous 900 degree (2½ midair spins) - with absolute precision. It is this precision that has earned him his place at the top of the skating tree.

While the movement and freedom of skating excite Hawk, the ups and downs of the sport’s popularity have been far from exciting. When he was at school, skating was not popular.

“Skating was the furthest thing from cool at my school, so the fact that I did it, I kind of had to hide it,” Hawk says.

“I mean people knew I did it and eventually into my later years of high school it started coming back in popularity, then it had some sense of recognition.

“It didn’t get popular in that it was on TV or really went mainstream, it was still a very underground activity like an alternate sport.”

As the popularity of skating was building, so too were Hawk’s business aspirations.

He was 22 when he started his first venture, Birdhouse, in 1990 and he was winning almost every competition he entered.

But just as his career was taking off, the sport’s popularity veered wildly off course.

“In the early 1990s it did die financially,” Hawk says.

“It was not popular any more, the skate parks all started closing, it just wasn’t a very viable career option.

“It was difficult, I was relatively young, I had just started a family and had a huge mortgage. I still wanted to keep doing it, I didn’t want to give up on it, and so I had to work really hard on it and take every opportunity.

“I was doing exhibitions in [a] park like three times a day for $100. But I was also competing and trying to get my Birdhouse brand off the ground.”

For five years the unpredictable currency of what was considered “cool” took skating and Hawk’s career into meltdown. But it would not last forever.

“I would say close to 1996-97 skating came back slowly and in 1999 it came back in a big way, for sure,” Hawk says.

“[I was recognised] much more than I ever had [been], which was rare when I thought that was kind of my twilight years ... I was getting recognised and getting more opportunities.”

Among the opportunities Hawk seized was the potential for skating video games.

“It definitely helped to gain an audience for skateboarding for people who would never want to do it, but they would be able to appreciate it,” he says.

“And that’s the one thing that we never had in the ups and downs of skateboarding. The people who really enjoyed it were the people doing it and now here is a fan base because of video games and television coverage.”

In 1999, Hawk’s name had become synonymous with the sport because of his determination to keep the best ride of his life going.

Continued…

“I am my worst critic,” he says. “But I think that has helped me to have this longevity because I am hard on myself. If I feel I am not skating up to par, then I will try and step it up as best I can even if the conditions aren’t optimal for that.

“And I think that is part of being a professional, as well, you are expected to rise to the occasion even if the circumstances aren’t ideal.”

And his opinion on being an idol to so many fans of different ages? “I’m honoured but it’s a lot of pressure, especially when the type of skating I do is a little bit more niche than big ramp and street skating. That’s more the first style and more accessible style.

“But at the same time I really enjoy it and try to do my best every time.”

Tony Hawk’s book How did I Get Here? The Ascent of an Unlikely CEO is out now, RRP $29.95.

Just goes to show that anything is possible.

His book will make him even more. And probably be a good read.

His other books are very good reads.

Tony Hawk is on my list of people I would love to hang out with.

Hawk’s still keeping it real. He was actually at monster last weekend, but I wasn’t working.