R ight now, at the Tempe History Museum, you can see an excellent exhibit called “Dry Surf: Local Skateboarding History.” It’s more than worth a visit, even if you’re unsure about the historical significance of what was once considered a fad, a flash in the pan and in some cases, a public nuisance. There’s much to learn about the history of skateboarding in the Valley. The exhibit unspools 60 years of local skate- boarding history. Josh Roffler, the museum’s senior curator of collections, and Rob Locker of AZPX Skateboards spearheaded the effort to assemble the incredible collection of skateboards, photographs and assorted memorabilia. But it wasn’t without the help of a caring and diligent skateboard community of donors, many of whom are budding historians themselves. A West Virginia University website about the science of sports calls a skateboard “a fantastic example of compound machines.” Over time, these machines have evolved to the point where you can buy a motorized skateboard and use it to zip around town while leaving a small carbon footprint. The equipment skateboarders used in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s was primitive by comparison. In the 1960s, Phoenix’s proximity to the California coast made it inevitable that the new, four-wheeled vehicle made its way east and into the hands of local youth. Just finding out that skateboards existed was enough for early adopters to get curious and allowed the first wave of skateboarders to figure out what they could do with this machine. Tony Simon was skating in the Valley as far back as the 1960s. Along with Simon, early local adopters of the sport included Hoss Rogers, Gavin Troy, Rob Shipp, Brian Brannon, Steve Shelton, Todd Joseph and Steve “Ping” Pingleton. The early skateboarding legends of Phoenix share some commonalities. Working with their hands is one: Simon has been a mechanic for most of his life, Pingleton just published his first book of skateboarding photog- raphy and has been an avid photographer since the 1970s, and Rogers and Troy are renowned artists in jewelry and painting, respectively. Music is another: Brannon (Jodie Fosters Army), Joseph (Junior Achievement) and Shelton (Glass Heroes/The Brand) are have played in some of the greatest punk rock bands to ever come from Phoenix. All three men helped introduce the local skateboard scene to punk rock. If there were a Mount Rushmore of skate punk bands, JFA is definitely carved into the face. The following are memories of the early days of the Valley skateboarding scene. As you will learn from the “Dry Surf” exhibit, it’s possible that Scottsdale was home to the world’s very first skate park. It opened in 1965. Simon: 1965 or so, that’s probably right. It was that Hayden Plaza East. There was also a Hayden Plaza West, where they had a Woolco, which was like a department store, and they had a Pride. There were two wings to the shopping center. It had a liquor store at one end and a Mexican food restaurant at the other end, with a bunch of businesses. They built a square that was probably 50 square yards. They had steps that lined up on it and it had a downhill and then the rest of it was flat, so there were no banks (transitions) or anything like that. It was just a flat bank with a starting ramp to get some speed. Simon began skateboarding a few years before that, in 1963. Simon: I skated, not on any terrain (transitions such as empty pools, ramps, banked walls, etc.). You know, we didn’t know about that kind of stuff. Just pushed around on the flats. Used it for transportation in Tempe as a kid and then, you know, skateboarding just went away. The “fad” days of skateboarding in the mid-1960s didn’t last long, as many skateboarders shifted to other interests. For the next generation, the skateboarding adventure began a decade later. Joseph: Around 1975, my dad had a subscription to Sports Illustrated magazine. There was an article, and they’re like, “Hey, skateboarding is becoming popular again with the invention of the urethane wheel.” I told my dad, “Oh man, that looks really cool.” It was close to my birthday, and my dad, who traveled all the time, was going to California on his next trip. For my 11th birthday, he got me my first board. I just kind of learned how to ride where we lived (in Wisconsin). There were some hills and nobody else skateboarded. In fact, nobody else knew anything about skateboarding. Brannon: I started skateboarding when I was prob- ably about 5 or 6. My mom took me to Kmart and said I could get a skateboard. They actually had (ones with) urethane wheels, but they also had the Black Knight boards with the clay wheels. I just liked the graphic of the knight, you know, under the shining armor with the big lance, so I got that. I was just skateboarding down the driveway, first >> p 22 Phoenix legends remember early days of skateboarding in the Valley. BY TOM REARDON Hoss Rogers rides an empty swimming pool on the east side of Phoenix in the mid-1970s. (Hoss Rogers)
