Despite his fame, fortune and fervent following among millions, Tony Hawk presents a compelling case for being a reluctant celebrity.
With a somewhat humble persona, he appears almost uncomfortable in the glare of the spotlight and amid questioning of how a ‘little skinny kid’ revolutionised skating to such an extent that it has now surpassed baseball in popularity among youngsters in America.
A reference to his nickname ‘Birdman’ prompts a curt response: “Unfortunately, someone from ESPN said it on the air some time and it stuck. I hope it’s more for the way I perform than the way I look.”
Flying without wings on his board, performing stunts that amazed audiences the world over, the sky was always the limit for this Hawk. But it was not always that way. Just as skating faced a challenge to become a more mainstream sport, Hawk encountered his own obstacles.
“I came in as a little skinny kid, doing different things and they (other skaters) didn’t like that,” he recalls. “There were challenges to be accepted by my own industry. When I started, it was a new sport and I was making it up as I went along. There was nobody to mentor you, all I cared about doing was learning new things.”
Those new things not only gained Hawk respect when he turned professional at 14 and became the world’s best two years later, but inspired a whole generation to this day.
It started out as “fun”, when, aged nine, he was given a blue worn fibreglass skateboard by his brother and did not know how to turn as they played outside their San Diego home. But it soon became serious and eventually life-changing.
Hawk created and cultivated styles that made boarding more than just a fad, and dominated competitions, becoming Vertical Skating world champion 12 times in a row.
A historic 900 – a testing manoeuvre that requires a skateboarder to rotate 900 degrees with two-and-a-half turns in mid-air – assured him of iconic status with signature clothing, video-game deals and movie appearances becoming part of the profile.
“The goal for me wasn’t to win, but to do my best,” says Hawk, who launched skateboard company Birdhouse Projects to overcome financial struggles in the early 1990s.
“All I cared about doing was learning new things. It was more about trying to figure out what was possible; competition came secondary to that. By continuing to push myself, I continued to maintain my competitive record.
“If you are on top for a long time, people will expect much more out of you. When I first started skating I was really small and so it was hard to generate the sort of speed that you could need to fly in and out of bowls or ramps.
“So I kind of developed my own technique, to get into the area and grab it later. No one was doing that then and it was the only way I could get height. It constructed a revolution of how to get higher, and the people who could get speed could get even higher using that technique. It was something borne out of necessity for me.
“People at the time were not into change or different styles. It was very hardcore, with people saying, ‘this is what’s cool, this is what you do’. What I’m most proud of is making a living doing it into my adult life.
"When I was growing up there was no sense of a future in skateboarding. If you were good at it then you just did it until you reached an age of responsibility and then quit because you couldn’t make a living out of it. So to make a living out of it and keep doing it into my adult age I’m very proud of that.”
Even at 45 and strong on social media, Hawk is still trying to change mindsets. Through his Tony Hawk Foundation, he helps build public skateparks in low-income areas where children are not allowed to use public property.
He is eager to highlight how vital that is, not just in America, but worldwide. On an appearance at the Doha GOALS conference in Qatar last month, Hawk was also keen to learn how other sports retain widespread interest and appeal in the face of other activities.
He told Sport360°: “I come from a relatively new sport, something we are still trying to grow and show the legitimacy of it. So to listen to sports that are more established, it’s interesting to hear their perspective and how they stay relevant and popular.
"For example, I talked to some people from the NBA. I’ve never met any of their organisers before, but it was interesting to hear how they treat athletes and keep the press up in extra-curricular activities, not just in the games.
“It’s not a dream to be like the NBA, to be that big, but to gain acceptance, mainstream acceptance. In America, more kids now skate than play Little League – and baseball is our national pastime. It’s very exciting to see that and shows how far we have come. I feel that same effect can take place worldwide.”
It is why Hawk reaches out to the world through his Foundation and other skateboarding initiatives like Indigo Skate Camp in South Africa and Skateistan in Afghanistan and Cambodia.
“It’s about giving opportunities to kids who have never had it," he explains. "Skateistan is the only co-ed sport in Afghanistan, with as many girls skating as boys and that doesn’t happen elsewhere. It would be great to see skateparks in the Middle East too.”
Government support is crucial to Hawk’s vision as he adds: “Yes, absolutely.
“It is changing, slowly but surely. In the US, skateboarding was always considered a liability. They put it on the hazardous activities list so if people took part in skateboarding it was at your own risk.
“That changed everything and made it possible to have public skate parks because then there was no liability.
“Overcoming those hurdles in other countries is the next step. Once the authorities see what good a skatepark can do for communities, then they build more. It just takes getting over that one hurdle.”
No one knows that more than Hawk.
TONY HAWK FACTFILE
Born: San Diego, California, on May 12, 1968
Career: First started skateboarding in competition, aged 11. Turned professional in 1983, aged 14, and retired in 1999.
Records: National Skateboard Association’s Vertical Skateboard world champion 12 times, nine gold medals at Summer X Games 1995-2002.
Did you know?: By the time he was 25, Hawk had won 73 of 103 professional competitions and came second 19 times.
Sporting hero: “That’s a difficult one, but Michael Jordan when I was growing up.”
Following in father’s footsteps: “My oldest son, Riley, is a professional skateboarder and he’s 21. He has his own career, own path and own set of sponsors. My other boys, Spencer and Keegan skate, but they do other activities too.”
Reaching out to the masses: “To bring skateboarding to the attention of others is important. Video games has been huge for me as it has created a fan base for skateboarding, for people that don’t necessarily want to do it, but enjoy watching it. It has raised the popularity.”
Potential for skateboarding: “The Olympics needs a cool factor, something for the younger generation for the summer games, like what snowboarding did for the winter games.”
