A Short History of Skateboarding
Let us narrow it all down into a short history of skateboarding.
It all started in the early 1900s with skateboards that were roller skate wheels
attached to a 2 x 4. Go figure how versatile that invention was. Not! Most often
the board had a milk crate hammered on and had handles for control. Obviously
over the next 50 or so years the look and style of the boards drastically
changed.
In the 1950s clay wheels came along and in 1959 sidewalk surfing took the world
by storm. The surfing crew caught the bug and by the 1960s the first
professional boards were designed and promoted by Makaha. From 1963 to 1965 over
fifty million boards were sold before the sport died abruptly thanks to shoddy
manufacturing and reckless riding. Clay wheels were also a sticking point
because they gave poor traction and caused hundreds of falls.
By 1970 a surfer names Frank Nasworthy got the bright idea of plastic wheels and
the sport was once again resurrected in 1973 and companies started making trucks
(what holds the skateboard together) specifically designed for skateboarding.
Next came precision bearing, no more loose ball bearings. Freestyle, downhill
and slalom skateboarding became the in thing to do. In 1976 graphics decorated
the decks and in 1978 Alan Gelfand invented the Ollie trick. Street style
skateboarding was born and took off like a shot, until 1980 when skateboarding
took another nosedive into oblivion.
By 1984 interest was coming back with the introduction of vert riding and the
re-introduction of street style skating. Free style skateboarding was making its
comeback as well. By the end of the decade there was more of a shift to street
skating and vert riding was dying out. Gradually the whole tone and personality
of the sport made a shift to focusing on ollies and other technical tricks.
Skateboarding took on an "attitude."
In the early 90s the skate industry bit the dust again only to revive once again
in 1995 as skateboarding got mega exposure at the ESPN 2 Extreme Games.
Skateboard shoes became all the rage, followed quickly by skate clothing. Since
1995 the industry has remained fairly stable but with the addition of the once
forgotten sport of longboarding (using larger boards) and downhill skating
taking on a new dimension with the advent of street luge.
While skateboarding may have had it's up and downs, it has managed against all
odds to make a comeback and re-invent itself many times over. This sport is
safer than football, rollerblading or hockey, and that says something for it
doesn't it? That was a short history of skateboarding, but the bottom line is that it's fun and people love to do it.
