Rodney Mullen

Rodney Mullen

Personal information
Birth name	Rodney Mullen
Born	(1966-08-17) August 17, 1966 Gainesville, Florida, U.S.
Website	Dwindle Distribution
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Skateboarding

John Rodney Mullen (born August 17, 1966) is a professional skateboarder who practices the disciplines of freestyle and street skateboarding. Mullen is credited with inventing numerous skateboarding tricks, including the kickflip, heelflip, impossible, and 360 flip. Mullen has appeared in a large volume of skateboarding videos and has co-authored an autobiography entitled The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself with Sean Mortimer.

In a 2009 video, Mullen summed up his passion for skateboarding:

I fell in love with skateboarding because it was individual. There were no teams, there were no captains... it was completely opposite of what I saw in so many sports: It was creative.

Biography

Early life

Mullen was born in Gainesville, Florida, United States, and began skateboarding at the age of ten after a neighborhood friend introduced him to a skateboard. He promised his worried father, a dentist, that he would cease skateboarding the first time he became seriously injured. Mullen began practicing whilst wearing a complete pad setup, as part of the deal with his father, and spent time with his sister's surfer friends, who skateboarded on weekdays. Mullen became obsessed with the skateboard and practiced for many hours on a daily basis.

Skateboarding

In 1978, having owned a skateboard for less than a year, Rodney placed fifth in the Boy's Freestyle at the U.S. Open Championships at Kona Skatepark in Jacksonville. Skateboard manufacturer Bruce Walker saw his performance and sponsored Mullen through Walker Skateboards in 1978–80. Mullen's biggest influence in skateboarding at the time was Walker pro skater Jim McCall. Mullen was coached in his early years by Bruce Walker (who also coached a young Kelly Slater).

In later years, Mullen was coached by Barry Zaritzky, aka SIO Barry. When his family moved to a farm in a remote part of Florida, Rodney began perfecting his flatground techniques in the family garage. Mullen cites the isolation and lack of terrain naturally influenced him toward freestyle skateboarding. Rodney cites 1979 - 1980 as his "most creative time". Mullen put together a string of 30 straight competitive amateur victories in the late 70s, mostly in his home state Florida, culminating in a win at the Oceanside Nationals in June, 1979.

Rodney Mullen, 1988.

In 1980, the 14-year-old Mullen entered the Oasis Pro competition, defeating world champion Steve Rocco. Mullen later turned professional as a member of the Bones Brigade sponsored by Powell Peralta. Powell Peralta was co-owned by Stacy Peralta, who Mullen highly admired. Mullen competed voraciously throughout the 80s—often frustrating competitors and judges with his consistency and progressive ability. By 1990, Mullen had won 34 out of 35 freestyle competitions that he entered, losing only by fellow Bones Brigade member Per Welinder due to falling over in his run. Mullen established the most successful competitive run in the history of the sport.

Despite Alan Gelfand's fame for inventing the ollie air (Gelfand's maneuver being primarily a transition-oriented trick) Mullen is responsible for the invention and development of the street ollie. The ability to pop the board off of the ground and land back on the board while moving has been the most significant development in modern skateboarding. The invention alone would rank Mullen one of the most important skateboarders of all time.

Throughout the 1980s, he invented the majority of skating's ollie and flip tricks, including the flatground ollie, the kickflip, the heelflip and many others. These tricks are now considered an essential part of modern vert skateboarding and street skateboarding. In early 1989, Mullen left the Bones Brigade to join World Industries as a principal investor with longtime friend and former rival Steve Rocco. The choice was a gamble since Powell Peralta was an established company, while Rocco's upstart company was struggling and losing money.

Street skating

As the popularity of freestyle skateboarding declined, Mullen was urged to move his style toward street skating, which he had refused to do. This is hinted at in the World Industries video Rubbish Heap, where Mullen's sequence ends with team member Jeremy Klein breaking his freestyle skateboard and giving him a note from Steve Rocco, symbolizing the end of freestyle.

In 1991, Mullen joined the high-profile skateboarding team Plan B. Mike Ternasky, the owner of Plan B, influenced Mullen to transition from freestyle to street skating, and showcased his skills in the 1992 Plan B video Questionable. His segment begins with traditional freestyle tricks done on flatground, but quickly accelerates across public terrain to shift into street skating. In relation to obstacles, he sequences tricks, mixes flip tricks with grinds and boardslides. In the video, Mullen introduced two newly invented tricks, the kickflip underflip and casper slide.

Mullen's Questionable performance may have marked the beginning of a new era in street skateboarding. His reluctant departure from freestyle to become a street skater was a symbol that legitimized the technical direction street skating had taken over the previous few years. Mullen specialized at this progression in subsequent Plan B videos, including 1993's Virtual Reality, where Mullen showcases the newly-mastered Darkslide. Mullen's participation in Plan B dissolved after Ternasky was killed in a car crash on May 17, 1994. In 1997, he started another company A-Team, with the intent of forming a super team with the defection of Plan B from the World Industries empire. Rodney talked to friend and fellow pro Daewon Song to plan the video Rodney vs. Daewon, which featured each skater competing in segments from trick to trick.

Mainstream success

Rodney Mullen has appeared in the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater video games, Underground, Underground 2, American Wasteland, Proving Ground and Ride. The A-Team folded in 2000 and Mullen went from company founder to company rider under former Maple rider Marc Johnson, who started Enjoi Skateboards. Mullen left Enjoi to head Almost Skateboards with Daewon Song, the company which he still helms and skates for. Mullen's role at Almost includes research and development on new designs and technologies, including Tensor Trucks in 2000 and experimental and composite deck constructions for Dwindle brands.

After years of success and controversy, Steve Rocco decided to sell his company. In 2002, World Industries under the holding name Kubic Marketing, was sold to Globe International for $46 million, making Mullen and Rocco instant multi-millionaires. Kubic's management remained intact and Mullen began working for Globe under the Dwindle Distribution brand. In 2002, Mullen won the Transworld Readers' Choice Award for Skater of the Year. In 2003, Mullen wrote and released his autobiography entitled The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself. In late 2003 he was voted as the all-time greatest action sports athlete on the Extreme Sports Channel's Legends of the Extreme countdown.

From 2007–09, Mullen worked to erase his riding stance, allowing him to move from regular stance to goofy. In an interview with Tony Hawk, Mullen explained that he had developed problems in his right hip joint and that his transition between stances came out of an effort to favor his leg. He goes on to describe that scar tissue had built up in his joint as a result of habitually hyper-extending his leg while skating. Mullen stated that through extensive and consistent stretching he was able to tear away the scar tissue. In December 2010, Mullen stated in an interview that he was preparing to film a part for the upcoming Almost video.

Personal life

Rodney Mullen is married to his wife Traci. He is nicknamed the Mutt.

Filmography

I can't wait to wake up in the morning... A lot of times I can't sleep because I can't wait to try something new. How many people ever really experience that feeling? - Rodney Mullen, 2003

• Powell Peralta: Skateboarding in the '80's (1982)
• Powell Peralta: The Bones Brigade Video Show (1984)
• Powell Peralta: Future Primitive (1985)
• Powell Peralta: Public Domain (1988)
• Gleaming the Cube ("Skate double", 1989)
• World Industries: Rubbish Heap (1989)
• Plan B: Questionable (1992)
• Plan B: Virtual Reality (1993)
• Plan B: Second Hand Smoke (1995)
• Rodney Mullen vs. Daewon Song (1997)
• Rodney Mullen Vs. Daewon Song Round 2 (1999)
• Globe: Opinion
• Almost: Round Three (2004)
• Transworld: Show Me the Way (Darkslide)
• Tony Hawk's Secret Skatepark Tour (2005)
• John from Cincinnati (Skate double, Episode 10, 2007)
• Globe: United by Fate (2008)
• Bones Brigade: An Autobiography (2012)

Further reading

• Brooke, M (1999). Concrete Wave: The History Of Skateboarding. ISBN 1-894020-54-5.
• Mullen, Rodney (2004). The Mutt: How to Skateboard and not Kill Yourself. Regan Books.