James Jung

Beverly Hills HS

11th grade

Rodney Mullen, the godfather of skateboarding

When one thinks of professional skateboarders the names Tony Hawk, Nyjah Huston, or Eric Koston probably come to mind. However, there is one person that trumps all of these people, as well as every other skateboarder in importance. That man is the godfather of modern skateboarding, Rodney Mullen. Rodney Mullen helped develop the shape of the modern popsicle skateboards as well as inventing over 30 skateboarding tricks that are now performed worldwide. Without the foundation that Rodney has provided, skateboarding would truly not look like the way it is today.

Rodney’s inspiration to skate was sparked by seeing skateboarders gliding out of bowls. He thought that the sport looked liberating and cool. After skating for around 1 year, Rodney moved to a desolate farm in Florida. With not much to do, Rodney absorbed himself into skateboarding and honed his skills everyday. In 1980 when he was 14 he entered a pro skate competition for the company Osiris and beat the world champion at the time, Steve Rocco. After this event he continued to enter and win skate competitions; he won a total of 34 out of 35 competitions, a world record.

Rodney’s stardom came to an abrupt stop in the early 90’s when there was a huge transition from traditional freestyle skateboarding to a more urban style called street skating. This new style was marked by the incorporation of urban obstacles and street terrain. The irony in this is that this style of skateboarding would not be possible if it wasn’t for Rodney’s invention of the flatground ollie almost 9 years earlier when he was a kid. The ollie allowed skateboarders to pop their skateboards off the ground into grinds, slides, and other technical tricks. Rodney would still be the world’s most influential skateboarder even if all he had done was invent the flatground ollie, which puts into perspective how integral this trick is for the sport. Although when Rodney first started street skating it appeared as if he could barely move, this quickly changed as he rapidly adapted. It is widely argued that Rodney’s part in the skate video “Questionable” in 1992 by the company Plan B defined the era of street skateboarding.

In the years that followed Rodney faced many crossroads. One of the most important life decisions he had to make was dropping out of College to pursue developing his own skateboard company with his friend Steve Rocco. His company, World Industries, was later bought in 2002 for 46 million US Dollars by Globe, making him a millionaire overnight. World Industries changed to Dwindle Distribution and is one of today’s biggest skateboard companies. Shortly after in 2003, as a result of a lifetime of over extending his legs, Rodney’s right femur fused to his hip preventing him from skateboarding. Every doctor he went to turned him down. Rodney decided to risk it all and started breaking apart the scar tissue in his hip by himself. The process was so painful that he would have to drive himself to desolate areas in night so that nobody would hear his screaming as he pummeled away at his scar tissue. After almost 7 years of stretching, massaging, and breaking apart scar tissue, Rodney could rotate his right hip fully.

The next time that you see a skateboarder pop and ollie, remember that all of what you just saw including the skateboard would not be possible without the innovation of the godfather of modern skateboarding, Rodney Mullen.

<James Jung, Beverly Hills High, 11th Grade>