Jay Adams
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Jay Adams (born February 3, 1961) is one of the original Z-Boys and is considered one of the most influential skateboarders of all time.
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[edit] Skateboarding
He was born in Santa Monica, California. As a teenager in the mid-1970s, he was a member of the original Zephyr skateboard team and of the Zephyr surf team along with Tony Alva and Stacy Peralta. According to fellow Zephyr skateboard team member and Powell-Peralta Bones Brigade founder Stacy Peralta "Adams is probably not the greatest skater of all time, but I can say without fear of being wrong that he is clearly the archetype of modern-day skateboarding.Archetype defined means an original pattern or model, a prototype. Prototype defined means the first thing or being of its kind. He's the real thing, an original seed, the original virus that infected all of us. He was beyond comparison. To this day I haven't witnessed any skater more vital, more dynamic, more fun to watch, more unpredictable, and more spontaneous in his approach than Jay. There are not enough superlatives to describe him."[1] The Godfather of modern day skateboarding, Craig Stecyk, dubbed Adams "the original 'seed.'"[2] Stecyk also wrote, "Having known Adams over the years I really can't say he's changed much. He remains one of the most spontaneous, unpredictable persons I've ever encountered... Everything you've ever heard about him is probably true, or should be anyway. Mere words could never come close to accurately describing him."[3].
He currently rides for Z-Flex skateboards and has had many guest boards throughout the years for many different companies, including companies such as Rayner's Skates.
[edit] In Popular Culture
Adams is featured prominently in the award winning documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys and in the dramatized film account of the Z-Boys origins, Lords of Dogtown in which he made a cameo as a party guest.
The character Iggy Van Zandt from Tony Hawk's American Wasteland is based on Jay Adams.
[edit] Legal problems
[4]. He was also in and out of prisons through the next two decades as he struggled with drug addiction. [4]
He served two and a half years of a four year sentence in the Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan, Oregon, after being caught on a wiretap acting as a go-between for a buyer and seller of crystal methamphetamine. He was released to a halfway house on July 8, 2008 for the remainder of his sentence.[4]
[edit] Personal life
He is married to Sonya Gharsallah, with whom he has a daughter, Venice. He also has a son, Seven, from a prior relationship. [4]
[edit] Further reading
- DOGTOWN-The Legend of the Z-Boys, C.R. Stecyk III & Glen E. Friedman, Burning Flags Press, 2000, ISBN 0-9641916-4-4
- JAY-BOY - Classic photographs by Jay Adams stepfather, Kent Sherwood, Concrete Wave Editions, 2006, ISBN 0973528664 *[1]
- Scarred for Life - Eleven Stories About Skateboarders by Keith Hamm, Chronicle Books, 2004, ISBN 0811840530
[edit] References
- ^ Thrasher magazineHe also belonged to a Sponsor called "Nick Kostelnak Skateboards."
- ^ thesunmachine.net
- ^ SkateBoarder magazine, 1969 interview
- ^ a b c d Edelstein, David, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/sports/othersports/30xgames.html "A Lord of Dogtown Reemerges" New York Times. July 30, 2008, accessed November 11, 2008.
