Happy 50th Birthday @tonyhawk! Can you even imagine where skating would be if he decided to have been a botanist or something? Think about that shit. Hell of a butterfly effect. I remember hearing his name coming out of the mouths of kids in middle school that had no idea about skating at all. (And this was '89-90. 10 years before the 900°.) You can't even fathom the implications of that, your mind won't allow it. He has done more for our culture than anyone, had his hand in almost (if not every) aspect of it. Powell would def not have had the impact it did back in the "Big 3" days. Then he ran Birdhouse Projects out of his own pocket, during the "death of skateboarding ver.2.0" and not many companies made it though the "goofy boy" years, let alone STILL kicking today. Word is he lost money to keep his riders heads above water and made sure they were looked after. There is so much he has done we don't know about and prob never will. Truly selfless. Think about no @birdhouseskateboards , no Warner Ave crew, hence no Baker or Deathwish 🤢. Klein, Heath, Willy, Ocean and Berra would have ended up God only knows where. And that is just the 1st gen of BP riders. And I'm not even gonna start on the X-games. Love or hate em, their influence was massive and inspired so many to skate that are our current heroes and gods. And he had a huge hand in making the X-games what they were/are. (dare I say, would they even exist without the big guy?) We really can't fathom it, I wrote all this and can still name endless influences. The loop, the varial 7, the 900, double handplant, the Chin ramp quads, most people don't even have a "the" moment or trick. His are endless. His graphics have more spoofs than most peeps have norm models. And then, lest we forget... 2 words "Pro Skater". Think about THAT one. How many have started skating because of those games? And since 1-P8 is infinitely playable and one a multitude of platforms they will continue to inspire kids to start. (Not to mention we wouldn't have the SKATE trilogy w/out THPS... just sayin') Its all too much. Thank you so much Mr. Hawk for what you have done and will continue to do for us. (And my HS hairstyle 😂)
