Jump to content

Tony Hawk: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
No edit summary
Line 3: Line 3:
:''This article is about the American skateboarder. For the British comedian and author, see [[Tony Hawks]]. For the New Zealand basketball player, see [[Tony Hawke]].''
:''This article is about the American skateboarder. For the British comedian and author, see [[Tony Hawks]]. For the New Zealand basketball player, see [[Tony Hawke]].''
[[Image:Tony Hawk and Lhotse Merriam by David Shankbone.jpg|thumb|Hawk and Lhotse Merriam]]
[[Image:Tony Hawk and Lhotse Merriam by David Shankbone.jpg|thumb|Hawk and Lhotse Merriam]]
'''Anthony Mow Hawk''' (born [[May 12]], [[1968]]) is a professional skateboarder. He is considered the most successful and influential person of modern [[vert ramp|vertical skateboarding]].{{Fact|date=September 2007}} He is credited with the invention of many [[aerials (skateboarding)|aerial skateboard tricks]] including the Stalefish, [[Madonna (skateboarding trick)|Madonna]], and McHawk, and over 80 others, but is most famous for being the first to land the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/900_%28skateboarding_trick%29 900] (two and a half rotations—900°—in the air before landing back on the pipe) during the televised [[June 27]], [[1999]] [[X Games]], for which he received an enormous amount of attention. It marked the next level of his rise to fame, solidifying his status as a household name. He retired from competitive skateboarding afterwards, but continues to skate and perform at demos.
'''Anthony Hawk''' (born [[May 12]], [[1968]]) is a professional skateboarder. He is considered the most successful and influential person of modern [[vert ramp|vertical skateboarding]].{{Fact|date=September 2007}} He is credited with the invention of many [[aerials (skateboarding)|aerial skateboard tricks]] including the Stalefish, [[Madonna (skateboarding trick)|Madonna]], and McHawk, and over 80 others, but is most famous for being the first to land the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/900_%28skateboarding_trick%29 900] (two and a half rotations—900°—in the air before landing back on the pipe) during the televised [[June 27]], [[1999]] [[X Games]], for which he received an enormous amount of attention. It marked the next level of his rise to fame, solidifying his status as a household name. He retired from competitive skateboarding afterwards, but continues to skate and perform at demos.


==Biography==
==Biography==

Revision as of 02:41, 1 December 2007

This article is about the American skateboarder. For the British comedian and author, see Tony Hawks. For the New Zealand basketball player, see Tony Hawke.
Hawk and Lhotse Merriam

Anthony Hawk (born May 12, 1968) is a professional skateboarder. He is considered the most successful and influential person of modern vertical skateboarding.[citation needed] He is credited with the invention of many aerial skateboard tricks including the Stalefish, Madonna, and McHawk, and over 80 others, but is most famous for being the first to land the 900 (two and a half rotations—900°—in the air before landing back on the pipe) during the televised June 27, 1999 X Games, for which he received an enormous amount of attention. It marked the next level of his rise to fame, solidifying his status as a household name. He retired from competitive skateboarding afterwards, but continues to skate and perform at demos.

Biography

Hawk was born in Carlsbad, California, the son of Nancy(homemaker [1]/ college professor) and Frank Hawk (retired U.S. Navy officer/small appliance salemsan [2]). Frank was a skateboarder and founded both the California Amateur Skateboard League and the National Skateboarding Association. The NSA held many of the competitions that Tony competed and won in. Frank died in 1995. Hawk is the youngest; he has one brother, Steve, and two sisters, Lenore and Patricia.

Though he had an IQ of 144, Hawk decsribes himself as a "hyperactive demon child" in his autobiography [3]), who was frustrated and unfocused, and would frequently fly into rages. When Hawk was eight older brother Steve on a whim bought a blue fiberglass hand-me-down skateboard. Frank built a skating ramp in the backyard, and the whole Hawk family hoped that skateboarding would be an outlet for young Tony [4].

Personal

Tony was married to Cindy Dunbar from April 1990 to 1993 /94/95[citation needed]. They have son Hudson Riley Hawk(6 Dec 92) who they named for Tony's ancestor Henry Hudson. Cindy was a manicurist [5] and skateboarder for Hawk's Birdhouse Skateboards[6].

Hawk was married to Erin Lee from 28 Sept 96- 2004. They have sons Spencer (26 Mar 99) and Keegan (18 Jul 01).

Just one year after they started dating, Hawk proposed to Lhotse Merriam[1]. Merriam is the former Vice President of the International Free Skiers Association; the former President of Method Media & Marketing Inc. [7]; and the former owner Clover Lingerie & Gifts LLC [8] [9]. Hawk married Lhotse Merriam on 12 Jan 06 on the heart shaped island of Tavarua, Fiji [10]. Merriam's favorite group Rancid (band) played at their wedding. While there, Druke the Fijian Chief of Tavarua, requested Hawk give a private skate demo where two onlookers held a piece of plywood as a makeshift wall to wall ride on a tennis court wall [11].

He will be featured in an episode in MTV's xeffect [12].

Business interests

In 1994, after the skateboarding industry took a downturn and vertical skateboarding's popularity waned in the rise of street skating, Hawk started Birdhouse Projects along with ex-Powell Peralta pro Per Welinder, which is now known as Birdhouse Skateboards. He also owns his own film and TV production company, 900 Films, and, along with his family, started Hawk Clothing. Tony's Boom Boom HuckJam tour is the most successful action sports tour featuring skateboarding, BMX, and Freestyle Motocross. The tour went to arenas across the USA in 2003, 2004, and 2005 and is touring Six Flags parks across the country in the summer of 2006 and 2007.

Hawk also teamed with Activision to release a popular skateboarding video game series, beginning with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater/Tony Hawk's Skateboarding in 1999. Ten games with the Tony Hawk license have so far been released, with Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, in October 2007, being the latest.

In 2000, he wrote an autobiography with Sean Mortimer that was entitled HAWK: Occupation: Skateboarder, which made it to number 18 on to the New York Times bestseller list. He later wrote a second book, a road journal called Between Boardslides and Burnout. In March 2007, Six Flags Fiesta Texas unveiled their latest roller coaster creation, Tony Hawk's Big Spin, a skatepark themed coaster that spins while riding around the track.

In 2002, Tony created the Tony Hawk Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to assist low-income communities in the creation of well-designed skateboard parks. In four years, the Foundation gave away over a million dollars in grants and assistance. In April 2007, along with eleven other philanthropic athletes (Andre Agassi, Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, Warrick Dunn, Jeff Gordon, Mia Hamm, Andrea Jaeger, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mario Lemieux, Alonzo Mourning, and Cal Ripken, Jr.), Hawk founded Athletes for Hope, a public charity that was launched publicly on ABC's Good Morning America and ESPN. Athletes for Hope connects athletes, individuals, and businesses with charitable and community causes.

In 2007, Tony Hawk joined with other pro skater Joel Tootell to form Rad Boards Australia. The company now sponsors several street skaters from across Australia. So far the company is to release the much anticipated 'new design decks'. These are expected to be released next early year (2008).

Tricks Invented

  • Air Walk
  • 900
  • Tornaldo
  • Stalefish
  • Bowl Twister
  • Madonna
  • Hell Jump
  • Bowl SpinCity
  • Gymnist Plant

Miscellaneous

The British comedian and author Tony Hawks is frequently confused for the skateboarder and maintains a list of intended e-mails (and his mischievous responses to them) on his official website.[13]

References

  1. ^ http://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Ge-La/Hawk-Tony.html
  2. ^ http://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Ge-La/Hawk-Tony.html
  3. ^ http://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Ge-La/Hawk-Tony.html
  4. ^ http://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Ge-La/Hawk-Tony.html
  5. ^ http://www.tonyhawk.com/bio.html in paragraph 10
  6. ^ http://www.birdhouseskateboards.com/team_am_riley_hawk.html
  7. ^ http://www.freezeonline.com/freeze/contributors/article/0,13991,76-589812,00.html
  8. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005000/bio Tony Hawk imdb bio lists all this for Lhotse's former jobs
  9. ^ http://www.skateamerica.com/sitemap/content/pages/Tony-Hawk-Bio-4351.html Says she is a retail store owner
  10. ^ http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1150363,00.html
  11. ^ http://www.skateamerica.com/sitemap/content/pages/Tony-Hawk-Bio-4351.html
  12. ^ http://www.registerguard.com/news/2006/01/29/ol.hawk.0129.p1.php?section=oregonlife
  13. ^ Tonyhawks.com: Skateboarding e-mails
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tony Hawk.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tony_Hawk&oldid=174973643"