Tuesday night, Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium was full of fans of all ages to hear professional skateboarder Tony Hawk discuss his experiences as a skateboarder, entrepreneur and philanthropist.
The crowd erupted with cheers when Hawk came to the stage following a video highlighting his extensive career, spanning more than four decades. Hawk focused on the highs and lows of his career and his experience with the community.
Hawk reflected on the moment his passion ignited after entering a skate park with his friend in San Diego.
“I remember walking into the door, and the energy, it felt was like nothing I've ever seen or ever experienced,” said Hawk. “There are people flying around … There was music that I never heard before. And there was a camaraderie among people who were supposed to be competing with each other.”
In addition to students, extreme sports lovers from the community were in attendance. They sat on the edge of their seats hanging on to everything Hawk said. Even parents came to the event with their children who aspire to skateboard. Rick Arnett, an Athens resident, attended the event with his son, who would like to start skating.
“The idea of finding something that you love to do, and it may not make you a ton of money, but it's worth it because you love doing what you do,” said Arnett. “That's more important than making a whole lot of money.”
Hawk described the culture of skating and how it changed when he was about 20 years old. In the 1980s and 1990s, people started turning to street skating instead of skating in parks and competitions, so parks started to close. Hawk used this time to start Birdhouse, his skating company, to support other skaters who wanted to compete.
“Around that time, ESPN called me and said, ‘We're gonna do an event and we want to include all the extreme sports,’” Hawk said. “It was definitely a bit of a spectacle in terms of how they presented skateboarding … But I felt like skating had already been so refined, skating had already been through so many cycles that we could kind of shine through in terms of quality.”
Following this event hosted by ESPN, skating became more mainstream. There were more opportunities for scholarships, competitions and marketing. Hawk talked about his first video game, “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater,” which came out in 1999, and his Doritos Super Bowl commercial in 2003.
“I was into longboarding in high school,” said Alex Ade, a first-year master's student in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program. “I also played his game on the Wii as a kid.”
In the early 2000s, Hawk decided to focus on charity and giving back to the skating community and started “The Skatepark Project” to support skateparks and provide a place for younger skaters. Since starting the foundation, they have provided for over 600 parks in every state and internationally. Hawk ended his speech with questions from the crowd and even an autograph request.
“I tried my best to get his signature, and I got it,” said Ezra Gallagher, an Athens resident whose hat was signed by Hawk. “I'm a skater, I want to get sponsored by Independent and Skeleton Key. I love skateboarding.”
Before Hawk left for the evening, he made sure everyone in attendance knew that skateboarding meant a lot to him and it gave him his sense of self, and even after an injury a couple of years ago, he would not stop skating.
“At this point, every ollie's a gift,” said Hawk. “If I'm able to stand on my own two feet, I'm going to put a skateboard underneath them.”
