South Beach Sessions - Tony Hawk

Summary

The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

South Beach Sessions – Tony Hawk

Date: May 21, 2026
Setting: Elser Hotel, Downtown Miami
Guests: Tony Hawk, with Dan Le Batard (host)

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Overview

This “South Beach Session” dives deep into the life, career, and legacy of Tony Hawk—legendary skateboarder, cultural ambassador, and entrepreneur. The conversation, flowing with candor and humor, explores Hawk’s early adoption of skateboarding, the highs and lows of his professional journey, the physical and emotional costs of his devotion to the sport, his impact on skate culture, familial insights, and his unique relationship with fame and personal fulfillment.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Early Career & Making Skateboarding Matter

• Professional Beginnings (02:42)

  • Hawk discusses his early years: “I was very young, so I certainly didn’t think I was choosing a career because there was no career to be made when I turned pro. It meant that I just moved up a division in competition and then I was gunning for $100 first place prize money, so that didn’t feel like a career move.” (02:42)
  • A sense of naivete and bliss: “Ignorance is bliss and youth is wasted on the young.” (03:10)

• Childhood Sacrifices (03:38)

  • Juggling pro skate life with school: constant travel, lost childhood moments, and living in a different world from his peers.

• Skateboarding’s Popularity Crash (Early ‘90s) (04:37)

  • Financial struggles—missing bill payments, eating instant noodles, and the harsh reality check when the skate industry faded.

2. Perseverance & Reinvention

• Facing Adulthood Head-On (06:07)

  • Hawk on hustle: “I was faced with reality very quickly...your chosen career path is fading. And so I had to kind of hustle and figure out, how do I make this work while still skating?”
  • Early hustles included consulting for Hollywood shoots—showing adaptability to stay connected to skating.

• Recession of Skateboarding & X Games Revival (09:01)

  • The “street” movement emerges due to park closures; Hawk pivots by starting his own company and supporting street skaters.
  • “The X Games were definitely a catalyst… The years 92 to 95 were very tricky to make a living as a skateboarder.” (09:01)

• Mindset & Positivity (10:07)

  • Hawk’s philosophy: “If there’s one thing [skating] teaches you, it teaches you to get back up.” (10:01)
  • Even during lean years: “But at the same time we got to skate… we were having a blast… it was sort of magical.” (11:27)

3. On Happiness, Family, and Personal Evolution

• Measuring Happiness (11:44)

  • “My happiest days are these days. Just the idea that skateboarding has come so far and transcended just popular culture...I get to spend quality time with my kids. I’m a grandparent...These are the days.” (11:44)

• Consistency and Devotion: Always With a Board (14:16)

  • Hawk carries his skateboard everywhere, even when traveling: “I pretty much have it all the time.” (14:16)

• On Family & Parenthood (26:17, 27:09)

  • True presence felt when together with family: “We did it. They’re here. Look at this. And they want to be here.” (26:46)
  • Son Riley’s success as a pro skater in his own style: “Really proud of how he has managed to carve his own path.” (27:09)

4. On Innovation, Injury, and Pain

• Trick Invention Legacy (15:01)

  • “I did count at one point. It was somewhere around 80 or 90 [tricks invented]. But there are only a few that have really had staying power.” (15:17)

• Inventory of Injuries (15:58)

  • From ankles, knees, femur, pelvis, elbows, to broken teeth—trauma catalogued with stoic humor.

• Parental Support (17:28)

  • Parents’ attitude: After a concussion at 11, “My dad was kind of like, oh, you know, you rang his bell. Get back out there.” (17:28)

• The 900: A Relentless Pursuit (19:27)

  • Ten-year quest detailed: from first 720 in 1985 to the X Games 900 in 1999.
  • “You had to go literally on blind faith that it’s going to work and that if you let go and you stand up, you’re in the right place.”

5. Gratitude & Mindset

• Never Losing the Spark (23:46)

  • “I never was like, woulda, coulda, shoulda. Or you know, like an Uncle Rico vibe, where it’s like, I was the guy. I was thankful. I was thankful to still have some opportunity.” (23:46)

• Spiritual Fulfillment (25:13)

  • “It was always a sense of freedom for me and the artistic expression...When I go skateboard, I’m in complete control of my movements...It’s the one time in my life where I am centered.” (25:13)

6. Gaming & Bets on Himself

• Turning Down a Buyout; Gaming Goldmine (32:36, 34:28)

  • Offered $500,000 to sell his game royalties; chose to “let it ride”—“I said, no, I’m just gonna see how it goes. And, I mean, it was the best financial decision of my life, for sure.” (34:17)
  • “The royalties were absurd...the previous four games were still in the top ten.” (34:28)

• Always Betting on Himself (35:31)

  • “Stubbornness, obsessiveness, determination. All qualities I had as a kid.” (35:56)
  • Bet on himself out of necessity and stubborn optimism.

7. The Cost of Greatness

• Loneliness of High Achievement (37:06, 39:17)

  • “Greatness is lonely...the cost is relationships…it’s life missed.” (37:06)
  • Hawk often felt pressure to say yes, driven by having survived lean times.

• Recapturing Joy Through Artistic Skating (39:50)

  • “I was finally able to skate for myself...and not just for fun, but really be creative because I didn’t have to rely on it to make a living anymore.” (39:50)

8. Legacy, Advocacy, and Giving Back

• Building Skate Culture & Parks (44:55)

  • Hawk’s Skatepark Project: “Just the idea that skateboarding’s part of the zeitgeist...” (45:32)
  • Top-5 proud achievement: “Providing skate parks is so close to my heart. It’s such a passion.” (45:32)
  • Raised over $13 million for 600+ skateparks.

• Pushing Vert Skating Forward (62:03)

  • Proud of VertAlert and his ongoing campaign for inclusion in the Olympics: “That’s for me, that’s more of my selfish legacy, is that I was able to help vert skating get back on the map.” (62:03)

9. Personal Growth and Acceptance

• Handling Fame & Finding Comfort (48:08, 64:28)

  • On not feeling cool: “I never felt cool, you know, and I always felt like an outsider...The only way I knew how to socialize was skateboarding.” (48:08)
  • Real comfort came in parenthood, aging, and reprioritizing family—“Making myself available...everything’s much more rewarding now.” (51:05)

• Wisdom from Adversity (52:07, 52:47)

  • Epiphany came through a pattern of bad choices and injuries, especially breaking his leg: “Once I had [bone] reset...it gave me such a deeper appreciation for even being able to do it on a basic level. Every ollie is a gift.” (52:47)

• On Fear and Confidence (55:59, 56:19)

  • “My way of overcoming fear was visualizing the successful outcome. Outcome always.” (56:19)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Childhood and Skateboarding's Early Days
  “I was living this paradox...I definitely didn’t have the same formative years as any of my classmates.” (03:38)

• On Endurance and Loss
  “If there’s one thing [skating] teaches you, it teaches you to get back up.” (10:01)

• On Injury
  “Broke my femur was by far the most pain I’ve ever felt. Mostly because when it happened, I felt it disconnect...your limb is gone, it feels like your limb is gone.” (28:29)

• On Declining the Buyout
  “I said, no, I’m just gonna see how it goes. And, I mean, it was the best financial decision of my life, for sure.” (34:17)

• On Skateboarding’s Gift
  “Every ollie is a gift.” (52:47)

• On Coolness and Outsider Status
  “I never felt cool, and I always felt like an outsider—even in skateboarding.” (48:08)

• On Legacy
  “I hope my legacy is someone that brought more attention to skateboarding, represented it well, and provided more places to do it.” (61:39)

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Segment Timestamps

• [02:42] – Tony discusses the teenage beginnings and humble skate world.
• [04:37] – The early-90s decline, financial hardship, and quick transition to adulthood.
• [09:01] – How the X Games resurrected skateboarding’s mainstream appeal.
• [15:17] – How many tricks did Tony invent?
• [15:58] – Full-body injury rundown.
• [19:27] – The story and mythos of the 900.
• [25:13] – The spiritual connection and “centeredness” found in skating.
• [32:36] – Turning down the Activision buyout—video game explosion.
• [35:56] – Obsessiveness and self-belief.
• [39:50] – Creative renaissance when skating purely for himself.
• [44:55] – Pride in building skateparks and shifting public attitude.
• [52:47] – The appreciation for basic skating after serious injury.
• [61:39] – Contemplation of legacy.
• [62:03] – Advocacy for vert skating and VertAlert event.
• [67:52] – Competitive isolation and proof-of-self.

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Tone

The conversation is casual yet deeply reflective, peppered with humor, humility, and nostalgia. Tony Hawk’s honesty about his journey—from an awkward, determined kid to an emblem of skateboarding—offers wisdom, inspiration, and a reminder of the sacrifices behind athletic greatness. Dan Le Batard’s probing yet empathetic style draws out stories both illuminating and authentic, making the episode rich for both fans of skateboarding and those seeking insight into personal growth.

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Summary Takeaway

Tony Hawk is more than a legend, he’s a resilient advocate for skateboarding, a champion of personal reinvention, and a compelling example of finding joy and purpose amid constant change, physical pain, and public scrutiny. His journey from the fringes of culture to its center, and his humility about that path, is both a testament to his character and an inspiration to anyone striving for meaning in their passion.

Transcript

[Tony Hawk]

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[Tony Hawk]

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[Tony Hawk]

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[Tony Hawk]

Zootopia 2 has come home to Disney.

[Interviewer]

Let's go get ready for a new case.

[Tony Hawk]

We're gonna crack this case and prove we're the greatest partners of all time.

[Interviewer]

New friends.

[Tony Hawk]

You are Gary the snake. And your last name? Desnake. Mm. Dream team.

[Interviewer]

New habitats.

[Tony Hawk]

Zootopia has a secret reptile population.

[Interviewer]

You can watch the record breaking phenomenon home.

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You're clearly working at Zootopia 2.

[Tony Hawk]

Now available on Disney Plus.

[DraftKings Network Announcer]

Rated PG.

[Tony Hawk]

The road to the NBA Finals ends here with star guard setting the tone. The Cavs eye another upset while the Knicks carry the dreams of all of New York. The eastern conference finals continue on espn and abc.

[Interviewer]

A genuine legend in our midst. Somebody who basically made a sport matter in this country. I feel like I can say that without over flattering the skateboarding legend and now a gaming and cultural icon in Tony Hawk. You winced on that.

[Tony Hawk]

Thank you. Well, I mean, it's a lot, but

[Interviewer]

those things are all. So I said nothing that was wrong. That is, everything is correct. Your body has paid the price for that to be the glory. Was it worth it?

[Tony Hawk]

I will concur on that point.

[Interviewer]

Was it worth it?

[Tony Hawk]

Yes. Always. I'm here. I still get to talk about it. I still get to do it.

[Interviewer]

It is wild. It is crazy, right? Like, if you took me back to the early 1980s on whatever it is you thought your life would. What did it look like from back there?

[Tony Hawk]

Well, I was very young, so I certainly didn't think I was choosing a career because there was no career to be made when I turned pro. It meant that I just moved up a division in competition and then I was gunning for $100 first place prize money, so that didn't feel like a career move. And I was young enough and naive enough to just think, oh, this is fun. And then as I started to get into my later years of high school, it became a living. And I realized when I graduated that, oh, I already have. Everyone's figuring out what they're going to do with their life. I have a career path, although I didn't know how long it would last. But, you know, ignorance is bliss and youth is wasted on the young.

[Interviewer]

It is wasted on the young. But you, I would imagine, had a little bit of your childhood stolen, right? You're doing this one thing professionally, but you're so professional that all of a sudden you're not a kid anymore. You've got a bunch of spons at 16.

[Tony Hawk]

Yeah, I would say, especially in the summer because. Or even during the school year, because I was expected to travel to these big events in Florida and in Chicago and in Atlanta. And I would have to miss a Thursday or Friday from school, go there, compete, you know, be there, try to do my best, performance, a lot of fans and whatever else, and then go straight back to school on Sunday or come back home Sunday and go to school on Monday. And I was in a different world. I was. I was living this paradox. And. And then we'd been going tour. It was not. It was just every single day, big, big exhibition, big crowd, drive to the next city, you know, just like. Like a touring band. And I definitely didn't have the same formative years as any of my classmates.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, that's putting it simply. But in what ways did that end up distorting the adult?

[Tony Hawk]

The fact that it's a little tricky only because. Well, I have to say, I think that the silver lining of the downfall of skateboarding, and I don't mean downfall of skateboarding in general, I mean, the popularity of it in the early 90s was that I was faced with reality very quickly. And it was like, oh, no, you're an adult now. You are now providing for a family, and your chosen career path is fading. And so I had to kind of hustle and figure out, how do I make this work while still skating? And I'm thankful for those years because I loved it so much. I wasn't willing to pick up a 9 to 5. I just tried to make it work however I could. And what I mean by that is I would do odd jobs. I was actually a consultant for a few Hollywood shoots. I was the skate consultant because I was too old to be the skater at age 24. But that didn't matter. It allowed me to be in the skate world and still do it, but have a different role in it. But it got, you know, it got weird because I was. I was thrust into. I kind of bypassed a teenage childhood and then got thrust into responsible adult all at once. I mean, it really happened Very quickly.

[Interviewer]

Well, take us back there. You're talking early 90s. You have to refinance your house. What other things like that were there where you're looking around and you probably didn't pay attention to your finances the way that you had to. When it's all coming in, you have to concentrate on being great at the thing you do. Right.

[Tony Hawk]

Well, I mean, there were definitely some milestones. I remember driving to the water company to pay my bill in cash for the better part of a year because I was behind on a couple payments and I got fined because it was a drought and we had a big property. So that kind of thing sticks with you. Yeah, I mean, really, just cutting back on all expenses, eating a lot of instant noodles and peanut butter sandwiches.

[Interviewer]

Oh, so what? So take me through your mental state at that time. So you go from pulled out of high school stardom, 20 years of. Wow, what a.

[Tony Hawk]

Well, not. Yeah, not 20 years. So I would say that career cycle of the late mid-80s to early 90s, that happened, that was a span of like six or seven years where it seemed crazy, and then it was really crazy, and then it was nothing.

[Interviewer]

Just like that.

[Tony Hawk]

Just like that. Yeah. I mean, it was like the span of a. Of a band with one good album. You know, we toured on it. And I don't mean that in the sense that I was. That my skills were fading or anything. I just mean that no one was interested and kind of regrouped. Yeah. Like you said, I had to refinance my home. I ended up selling it for what I owed the bank and moving into a more modest place and just kind of saving.

[Interviewer]

But how scared were you and how much were you? Looking back with regret on. Wait a minute. How did this all end? I didn't expect this was going to end here.

[Tony Hawk]

Yeah. I don't know. I guess I had the inkling that it wasn't going to last, only because I had lived through the first wave of popularity of skateboarding in the 70s. And that's when I got into. It was when it was popular. And when I really fell in love with it is when it sort of dove in popularity. But I didn't care because I was young enough and I was naive enough that the skate park near me was still open. I can still go there whenever I want. I'm still learning these tricks. That's enough for me. And then I realized that, oh, this is dying in popularity because that skatepark closed. And then I ended up localizing a different park. And I got very lucky in that that was one of two skate parks open in the US in those years

[Interviewer]

and do the X Games. Are they the thing that help all of that readjust in a way where the popularity then returns? That's about 95.

[Tony Hawk]

95, yeah. I would say that that was definitely a catalyst. Yeah. The years 92 to 95 were very tricky to make a living as a skateboarder or having a skate company. It just wasn't popular. Parks couldn't afford liability insurance skate parks, so everyone took to the streets. That became the movement. That was kind of not my style obviously. So I ended up starting a skate company in those years and getting more of a street team so that I could still be in the industry and I could facilitate them with opportunities, hopefully because of what I had learned. But it was tricky. I mean, I guess I don't think of those years as such a struggle. It was just more of a learning process.

[Interviewer]

Well, it sounds like you were confident throughout and I guess to do what it is that you did in general, you weren't doing a whole lot of measuring of consequences. You're almost not allowed to doubt the way that you're built given what it is is you've done for like how much down.

[Tony Hawk]

I never thought of Dire straits. I never thought of what happens if this doesn't work. Because I guess just through skating you learn perseverance. And if there's one thing it teaches you, it teaches you to get back up. So yes, I was hitting all these setbacks in terms of livelihood and in a lot of ways how do I navigate all this? But at the same time I got a skate. I mean that like we went on tour, let's just say 1993, we went on a team tour. We were driving a van, beat up Toyota van. That was our delivery van. There were six of us. We're going to different skate shops throughout the US we would skate in a parking lot and they would set up some wooden ramps or curbs or whatever they had. We would skate maybe for anywhere from 40 to 100 people. And then we would beg them for $300 so that we could get a hotel room, gas and food to get to the next place and all that sounds like a struggle. But at the same time we got to skate. We were having a blast. You know, we all stayed, we all shared in one hotel room and we would go out skating at night shooting video, street skating in these new towns. I mean it was all sort of, I guess it was sort of magical. I don't know if I asked you

[Interviewer]

for a quick snapshot on when you were happiest anytime in your life, would it be around there or would it be somewhere else?

[Tony Hawk]

No, it'd be somewhere else. But definitely I was. As far as I was concerned, I was living the dream in those moments. That was the best you could hope for in skateboarding, and we made it work. No, I mean, my happiest days are these days. Just the idea that skateboarding has come so far and transcended just popular culture. The idea that there are skate parks everywhere now and people are supported in skating into their adult years. I mean, people are literally professional into their adult years. And I get to. I get to spend quality time with my kids. I'm a grandparent, you know, These are. These are the days.

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[Interviewer]

your skateboard on you now? I've been told that you always have

[Tony Hawk]

it parked super close. So it's in my trunk, yes.

[Interviewer]

So when was the last time you were fundamentally apart from your skateboard? Do you really take it every. Do you take it with you everywhere?

[Tony Hawk]

I do, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Everywhere, Yeah. I mean, traveling. Absolutely. And I carry it on because I don't. I'm. I always am worried that it's not going to show up with me on a plane. In fact, I've had a few go missing. So, yeah, I pretty much have it all the time. It's funny because I did park. I parked far enough where I was like, I guess I could skate. There was only a block away, and I was like, that seems a little obnoxious and excessive.

[Interviewer]

It would be great. That would be great if somebody could be driving and see Tony Hawk just skorting a block on stage.

[Tony Hawk]

There's that element, too. But this guy saw me between my car and here and stopped me for a photo, so I guess that did happen.

[Interviewer]

Anyway, how many tricks have you invented? Do you have a number? Do you know the number?

[Tony Hawk]

I used to, but I just feel like these days, with the. The progression of skating and the evolution of tricks, it just feels pretentious to be like I invented 80 tricks or whatever.

[Interviewer]

But I'm asking you. You're not being pretentious. I'm specifically asking you if you know the number.

[Tony Hawk]

I did count at one point. It was somewhere around 80 or 90. But there are only a few that have really had staying power, you know, because some of them were kind of. Kind of silly. Some were so difficult that I only did it a couple times. Like, I got one on video and that's all. But there are a few that have actually pushed through the time and the eras and the styles, and so I'm proud of that.

[Interviewer]

Can you take me through your body on a journey of the things that you have harmed or have needed surgery? Like, if you were to do it from the bottom of your feet to your head?

[Tony Hawk]

Sure. Well, okay. Starting at my feet, I've definitely rolled both my ankles to such severity that they are almost too loose for safety purposes. I thought I broke it once when I was on tour in France. I mean, I rolled it so far. I just figured, oh, I broke my ankle for sure. Luckily, I didn't. I don't really know if that's luck or not. My shins are a disaster. They're just countless stitches. I've had. I've had knee surgery, two knee surgeries on both knees, mostly for torn cartilage and Torn ligaments. I broke my femur. I broke my pelvis. I recently fractured part of my pelvis. Actually, you might have saw me kind of limping in here. That's getting better, though. Let's see, where do I go from there? I broke my elbow. I've dislocated my fingers. I've gotten stitches on both eyebrows several times, had a few concussions and knocked out my front teeth five times.

[Interviewer]

The first when you were 12? 11.

[Tony Hawk]

11, yeah.

[Interviewer]

And what did the parents think of that?

[Tony Hawk]

I got lucky because my parents, I have three older siblings who are much older than me, and all were raised in the 60s and 70s, and so they had been through a lot with raising kids and defiance. And so when I came along, they were kind of just happy that I found something that kept me busy because I was a ball of energy, and I always wanted them to take me somewhere or do something.

[Interviewer]

And so you tested well, but hyperactive, right? Like, not a. Yeah.

[Tony Hawk]

I mean, what. What is that? I don't know what that is these days, but, yeah, I. I tested well for iq, but definitely was a lot of energy. They had a lot of different diagnosis for that back then, I think none that really helped us. But my once. And then I got hurt, and my. Like I said, my dad was in the Navy. My. My other siblings had grown up doing, like. My brother was a surfer. So that wasn't a big deal really, back then. I mean, it was to some other parents. They said, you know, a lot of my friends, once they got hurt, their parents said, you're not doing that ever again, or they broke their skateboard. My dad was kind of like, oh, you know, you rang his bell. Get back out there. He wasn't pushy, but he was supportive.

[Interviewer]

And Navy dads with whatever that comes with.

[Tony Hawk]

Yeah, very stoic and very unemotional, but also sell some shit,

[Interviewer]

but also let you. Let you follow your dreams, right? Like, even.

[Tony Hawk]

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, he just saw what it brought to me in terms of my sense of self and self confidence and joy. I mean, it really just brought me joy. Even though I was obsessed with it and I was intense with it, it was the one thing. It was my release.

[Interviewer]

What do you think of when I say the 900? Like, what is it that that means to you?

[Tony Hawk]

It was a goal that I had for over 10 years. It's weird now because when you see skateboarding, I mean, I just watched. There was an event, a competition, literally yesterday, and this one kid, and he literally is a kid. I think he's maybe 14 or 15. He would go down the starting ramp and start his run with a 900. That's out of the gate. Like, this is where we're starting.

[Interviewer]

I should tell people that that's two three 60s, two and a half. Okay, yeah. Two three 60s and a 180 is what I'm saying.

[Tony Hawk]

Yeah. 260 and 180. It hasn't become standard, but there are dozens of people that can now do it. But for me, I did my first 720 in 1985, and that was a step forward because the year before, someone had done the first. Mike McGill had done the first 540 backside. So the next following year, I did 720. The years after that, I tried to do nine hundreds, but I just could not figure it out because to do so and we didn't have the kind of ramps that are available today. I'm not trying to say, like, you know, we. Back in my day, we just. But we didn't have those kind of resources.

[Interviewer]

It's just factual. You're not. You're not saying that you were better than.

[Tony Hawk]

Didn't have big ramps to go real high. But I would try it. And because it requires you being blind to your landing twice, there was no way of spotting it. And so you had to go literally on blind faith that it's going to work and that if you let go and you stand up, you're in the right place. When I finally got the courage to try to land1 In 1996, I fell forward and broke my ribbon. I forgot that there was.

[Interviewer]

You forgot?

[Tony Hawk]

I bypassed my ribs. So I broke my rib and kind of put it on the shelf. Because 1996, I'm not really making a living skateboarding. I want to do this because it's been burned into my psyche that I want to get it done. I want to figure it out. But at that point in my life, there would be. I mean, it wasn't that I was trying to get accolades for it, but it started to become risk versus reward. Like, I remember when. The day I broke my rib, I had been trying it at this ramp, and because I had to sort of lay there and regroup and process that I was late to pick up my son at preschool. And for parents, when your kid's the last one at preschool, that sucks. You know, and the priests and the teachers just kind of like, so you sure did. There was some sort of sign there. It was like, what are you doing? Like, why are you risking yourself for this? You have someone that relies on you, and now you're late to pick him up because you're trying some dumb skateboard trick that can be tragic.

[Interviewer]

Way to go, dad. Yeah, you idiot.

[Tony Hawk]

Well, I mean, I didn't really, you know, I didn't think in such grim terms, but definitely there was a part there I was like, I don't really want to try this anymore because if I keep trying it, I'm not going to be able to skate, like, do events or anything. Because I was still. Yes, it was 96. Like, I was doing some exhibitions in parking lots of amusement parks to make a living. And that was something. And I had to be healthy enough for that. So it wasn't until 1999, during the X Games best trick event that I actually figured this move out.

[Interviewer]

As you go through all of this, are you always grateful when you're ending up in the parking lot of an amusement park and you used to be Tony Hawk? Or is some part of you lamenting like, ugh, this, this, this could have been more felt, more positive than this? Are you being made sad by any of where it is?

[Tony Hawk]

I don't think so.

[Interviewer]

You're just being. You're just happy. Cause to do it anywhere.

[Tony Hawk]

I never was like, woulda, coulda, shoulda. I was. Or you know, like an Uncle Rico vibe, where it's like, I was the guy. I was thankful. I was thankful to still have some opportunity.

[Interviewer]

That's great. It's just it. But it just tells you what you came from in skateboarding, that any opportunity would always feel like an opportunity. And so you just have that hunger. It never. It never gets fast.

[Tony Hawk]

Yeah, I mean, I got to. Well, I'd say I was definitely an outsider, especially in those years, like Matt Hoffman, who is the legendary BMX rider. He had a whole competition exhibition series. And at some point he and I became friends pretty fast. Friends in the early 90s. And he would invite me as the special guest skateboarder. And so I'm doing bike demos as the skateboarder. And then fast forward a couple years. I was the guest skateboarder at Rollerblade exhibitions, like, literally for the company Rollerblade. And it was like, oh, we've got a, you know, we've got a surprise. This. This skateboarder, you might know, an icon for cool. Really, though, I mean, I was just happy to skate always. Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer]

Can you articulate for us what it is about the connection between you and that board? What it is between this sport and you that feeds you spiritually?

[Tony Hawk]

I think it was always a sense of freedom for me and the artistic expression, even though I didn't know how to articulate that when I was a kid. But honestly, it's the sense of control that I have. Like, when I go skateboard, I'm in complete control of my movements, of my direction, of my moves, of how I feel. And, yeah, there's. Obviously, things can go wrong, mistakes can be made, or something goes amiss. But it's the one time in my life where I am centered, like, completely centered, and know exactly what is coming. And not to say that I don't embrace my life outside of that or the surprises that come with it and the challenges that come with it. I love it. But when I'm skating, it's just a sense of calm. It's like, that's my zone.

[Interviewer]

What's second place for you in terms of that? Is the place that I'm as present as I am when I'm skating.

[Tony Hawk]

Oh, well, just having your kids. I mean, my wife and I, between us, we have six kids, five boys who are in their 20s, and my oldest is in his 30s. And then my daughter is turning. Probably by the time this comes out, she'll be 18. And just to. When we. It's, you know, when they get that old, it's really hard to have a. A captive audience or to get them to agree to anything you're going to do. So when we have any of them around, my wife and I have this sense of joy that's just understood. You know, we don't make a big deal about it. We don't try to scare him away, but we definitely. There are moments where we're like, we did it. They're here. Look at this. And they want to be here.

[Interviewer]

Riley's a professional skateboarder.

[Tony Hawk]

Yep.

[Interviewer]

How do you feel about that?

[Tony Hawk]

It's fun. It's really. Well, he. His discipline is different than mine. He is more of a street skater and even a park skater, so his techniques and approaches are different. I'm really proud of how he has managed to carve his own path and even create or curate his own audience in terms of the types of skaters that look up to him are not the types of skaters that think what I do is cool. And I think he was discouraged in his early years, especially his early teens, to have the name Hawk because it just carried so much weight for him. But he's managed to, I think, navigate in the best ways he could.

[Interviewer]

It seems, though, like, he wouldn't have had a normal life growing up as Your son, given that he marries, you know, Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love's daughter, and the wedding is officiated by Michael Stipe. Like, that's not a. That's not a normal thing, I don't think.

[Tony Hawk]

Well, no, but that. That has nothing to do with my involvement. I mean, they met on their own, and now we have this beautiful grandchild that is at our house most days, and he's the most fun thing ever.

[Interviewer]

When you mentioned the pelvic injury, that's the one that hurt the most, Right. Physically, from among.

[Tony Hawk]

No. Breaking my femur was by far the most pain I've ever felt. Mostly because when it happened, I felt it disconnect. And when you feel that you really, like, your limb is gone, it feels like your limb is gone. I can't say what it's like to actually lose a limb, but that's the sense I had. And when they had to move me, especially onto a stretcher, the majority of my leg is just dangling, so someone else has to actually support it, and they're jostling it. And it was so intense that I feel like I kind of went somewhere else. And then going to the hospital, obviously, they give you an IV and you're on painkillers. But then moving me to the X ray machine was the second most intense pain I've ever felt. Yeah, that was. I mean, I think the breaking my pelvis set me up for that and understanding of, like, oh, this is the kind of pain where you can't move your body at all. I mean, when. On my pelvis. Because when you have a femur, when they fix it, they want you to get up, and they want blood flowing immediately. When you break your pelvis, you just sit, and if you sneeze, if you cough, if you have to go to the bathroom, it's traumatic. So the recovery was daunting, tricky, painful. But the femur was kind of everything.

[Interviewer]

When I asked you at the beginning, was it all worth it? Is it all worth it? The reason I ask is because with the wisdom and perspective and pain of age, you can look back at the cost of what it costs to be you. And all your dreams came true. But it comes with the cost that later in life, you're carrying a pain of your body wears these scars.

[Tony Hawk]

Yeah. But nothing has been so debilitating that I wasn't able to recover from it for the most part. I mean, since I broke my leg, there are a bunch of techniques that I just had to let go of some because I can't physically do them some because they're not worth the risk anymore. I think it's. It was a hard lesson, but a necessary one. But yeah, I mean, I could have done without a couple of bad concussions and some silly incidents of just fucking around and finding out. You know, there's stuff that I did. Like I was on Wild Boys, the jackass MTV show, and we were dressed up as monkeys skating because they had a chimpanzee that could skate. So they brought this chimpanzee to the ramp. Bob Bernkhorst and I dressed up in monkey scutes. We're skating. We ended up going into his full loop ramp, which is something that we had done before, but that day didn't work out and I ended up with a super bad concussion, breaking my thumb, breaking my pelvis. Yeah, that day I could definitely do without.

[Interviewer]

Do you realize the absurdity of all the words you just strung together? Yeah, yeah.

[Tony Hawk]

I mean, I lived through it, so. And I've seen it on video plenty of times. So.

[Interviewer]

Yes, you gave yourself over to the cause pretty thoroughly there on behalf.

[Tony Hawk]

Yeah, yeah, it was funny. They actually. I mean, they used that segment in Wild Boys without the. Without me falling at all. Like that was sort of near the end of the shoot. So we got what they came for, I guess.

[Interviewer]

What is the story that you can tell that would be interesting to people about what you declined with the gaming business that came your way to buy out because they wanted to buy your likeness? And then watching the explosion of what has been your gaming status.

[Tony Hawk]

Well, when our first game was about to be released, I think they could tell there was a groundswell of interest and good feedback. I didn't. I'm very green to this. I mean, I played video games my whole life, but I had never actually worked on a video game. So they could tell that something was happening. And just before the release, they said, we want to offer you a buyout of future royalties. I said, what does that mean? And they said, well, we want to offer you a half a million dollars. And then that's on the basis of the game might sell that much and you can get that up front. And then when I read the fine print, it means that's all you get going forward. And to be fair, at that time in my life, someone even saying half a million dollars sound outrageous. It's like someone saying, oh, I'm gonna give you half a billion dollars. Okay, sign me up. But. But there was a sense that things were kind of turning around in the skate industry. Things were definitely turning around in my career opportunities, I was doing pretty well. I just bought a house that I could really afford the mortgage of, and I had my second kid at that point, and I thought maybe I just let it ride. I mean, it seemed like an insane gambler, but I felt pretty secure. And so I did that. I said, no, I'm just gonna see how it goes. And, I mean, it was the best financial decision of my life, for sure.

[Interviewer]

Is there a way that you can explain that without being overtly reaching into your private stuff? Just like, so you turn down $500,000 and that ends up being a decision.

[Tony Hawk]

I mean, the game changed my life. The royalties were absurd. At one point, we were releasing our fifth game, which was Underground, and the previous four games were still in the top 10 of all video game sales. So we had a good run.

[Interviewer]

Okay, so they knew what they were doing when they offered to buy you out at that rate.

[Tony Hawk]

Yeah. And you know what? I know, but. Well, I don't think they thought there was going to be sequel upon sequel upon sequel. I don't think anyone was trying to pull a fast one. They're a company. They're trying to be profitable. I am so thankful for my relationship with Activision. Like, there is no way I could sit here and denounce that. They tried to do that. And to me, that was. I guess it was more. That was a boost of confidence that maybe I needed back then because everything was uncertain. The video game was uncertain. Skateboarding's future was uncertain.

[Interviewer]

Have you always bet on yourself?

[Tony Hawk]

Yeah, I'd like to think so. I mean, I definitely don't just take. I mean, at some point, especially in the early 90s, I had to take whatever I could, but it wasn't like I was in a position to negotiate. But, yeah, absolutely, because I didn't give in. I never gave up on skateboarding.

[Interviewer]

Where does that come from, do you think? Your willingness to bet on yourself,

[Tony Hawk]

stubbornness, obsessiveness, determination. All qualities they had as a kid. My mom. I mean, definitely there were other parents that were like, he's a nightmare. He's very difficult. My mom said, he's just determined. So that was my spin.

[Interviewer]

I mean, that's what champions have, though, don't they?

[Tony Hawk]

I think so, yeah. But sometimes at the cost of everything, Everything else in their life, their relationships, their, you know, whatever. But it's something. It's really hard to turn off. That's all I can say about having that sort of drive is once it gets in you, once, you know, it works, how do you stop it.

[Interviewer]

But that's the cost to being a champion, isn't it? Right. Like Drew Brees would say. And Drew Brees, great at what he did in a number of different ways, but not quite you or your equivalent at football in terms of reinventing the entirety of the industry. You have to be. It's lonely that greatness is lonely, that you. That you end up having to do a bunch of different things, that the cost is relationships. It's things missed. It's.

[Tony Hawk]

Sure.

[Interviewer]

It's life missed.

[Tony Hawk]

Sure. And. But there's also. There's another part of that, that. Because I had been through a wave of success and then a dip of success and challenges that came with that, once it turned around. And it was so hard to say no because I had been through the hardest years of doing what I'm doing. And so how could I ever turn anything down? And you get lost in that, because then it's like, oh, yes, going there. Sure. This deal. Okay, yeah, Shoot a commercial in New York. Let's go. Okay. Yeah. I'm going to Europe for these events. And you really lose yourself in that cycle, which you can hear about bands, comedians, burning out because they're just traveling and they're taking every opportunity and they're trying to record new stuff. And I definitely felt that. But at the same time, it was like, I gotta strike while it's hot. And it stayed hot for a lot longer than I ever imagined.

[Interviewer]

But that's what hunger, if that's how you stay hungry. Right. Is in some ways never being satiated because you've arrived. Like, I don't know.

[Tony Hawk]

Yeah, the hunger wasn't for it. More success. The hunger was skating. And I guess the irony of all that was that I was finally able to skate for myself, and not just for fun, but really be creative because I didn't have to rely on it to make a living anymore. Which was strange, because in those earlier days, everything relied on my skate and my performances, everything. And so I was skating even when I was hurt. I had to get back out there. And then when it wasn't the thing that I was doing to provide for a family, it became the most fun thing because I could just do it in any form and really test new techniques and new limits. And, I mean, those days, I mean, like, I'd say my years of sort of 2005 to 2012 were some of the most creative.

[Interviewer]

It's interesting to hear you say that because you're obviously a great brand ambassador, so you don't say anything about the burdens, or very much about the burdens of being you. But to hear you tap back into your childhood skating.

[Tony Hawk]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

After. Before the responsibilities, before the burden of money, before the burden of being you. The liberty in that to be an artist again like you were when you were a kid. It's interesting to hear you see it from that perspective in adulthood.

[Tony Hawk]

Yeah. And I don't think I appreciated it then because I was just always doing. Wasn't until I got older and realized I'm not capable of these things or they're. They're far more dangerous than I ever acknowledged that I appreciate. So, yeah, it's more in hindsight, but it was just so much fun. And even now, it's still so much fun. There is definitely a burden, I guess. Is there any burden that I was not chosen necessarily, but at some point, I was supposed to represent skateboarding to a broader audience or that was sort of expected of me because I had the opportunities that other skaters didn't, to go on to talk to bigger media outlets or whatever it is. And I did feel that sense of responsibility. I never took that for granted. That, okay, yes, I will be here. Yes, I'm more of a half pipe skater. I'm more of this era. But this is what's happening in skateboarding. This is the contemporary of skateboarding, is street skating. And these skaters and this crew that we invited to be part of our video game and all that. And I always felt like I had to represent it authentically, and no one really put that on me. I think I just sort of grew into it.

[Interviewer]

Because you loved it so much and because you needed it to.

[Tony Hawk]

I had too much respect for it as a whole than just being successful myself. I would say probably my mentor in that was Stacy Peralta. Stacy Peralta was always driven to represent skateboarding in the best light and show it to a bigger audience. He just never had a vehicle like I had with the video game.

[Interviewer]

But how did you come to realize that it was your calling to be forever a salesman for the sport? Wow.

[Tony Hawk]

I know.

[Interviewer]

Because you love it. Because you love it.

[Tony Hawk]

Yeah. I don't think of it those terms. I guess it's just more that I knew. I mean, in those days, and, you know, these are just media examples. But I was invited to do Leno and I was invited to do Letterman. And at some point, I felt the need to speak on behalf of the skateboard world, which was far bigger than me and far bigger than my accomplishments. And I don't know what I can't explain. No one really planted that seed. No one said, oh, with great power comes great responsibility. You have to go out there and do this. It was just more like I just wanted skateboarding to be more. I just wanted to be more awareness of it and for kids to be encouraged to do it. I think that was one of the big shifts, especially with the popularity of our video game. The popularity of X Games is that parents finally encouraged their kids to try it. In my day, like I got lucky that my dad did. None of my friends parents wanted them skating. It was no future. It was bad influence. They're punks, they're trespassing, they're skating public property property. And so it was like it's counterculture.

[Interviewer]

And you helped bring it to the mainstream. You are part of that bridge. I don't know if you blanched when I said salesman on behalf of the sport. You're a great advocate and activist on behalf of what it is.

[Tony Hawk]

I'll take credit and blame. How's that?

[Interviewer]

Oh, but it's.

[Tony Hawk]

Plenty of people don't. Didn't want it to be on that level.

[Interviewer]

But it's so beautiful to hear you love it so much that the skateboard is still a block from where it is that we are. And you want to be everywhere as a sermonizer for this thing that you love still, that you love and fills you.

[Tony Hawk]

Sure. I mean, it's definitely. It's a big part of my identity, if not the biggest part, because it's the thing that I've done the longest in my life and I'm proud of that, you know? And I mean, I'm proud that. Well, selfishly, I'm proud that I still can skate on a professional level. Ish. But honestly, to see a new generation gravitate to skateboarding, the fact that they have skate parks all over, we're still trying to build more and get in more underserved areas. But the fact that they have that available to them at any given time and it's not elitist, it's not exclusive, it's not the 70s. You're not going to get bullied necessarily. It's more like everyone's welcome, jump in

[Interviewer]

if I ask you to sort of itemize or list the things that you're proudest where numerically on the list would be raising more than $13 million for more than 600 skate parks all over the United States.

[Tony Hawk]

I don't know. It's probably a top five, I think. Yeah. I mean, firstly being available to my family and providing for them. But Mostly being close to them,

[Interviewer]

just

[Tony Hawk]

skateboarding, being able to skateboard is up there, but providing skate parks is so. Is so close to my heart. It's such a passion. I mean, when I was growing up, I got very lucky that I lived near one of the last skate parks that existed at that time. And it was never lost on me that I had a place of belonging because skateboarding was not cool in the early 80s, it was probably the furthest thing from cool you could do. I got hassled a lot at school. In fact, I would hide my skateboard before school in the bushes near the bungalows San Diego High. And I would hide it. And then when the bell rang, I would go retrieve my board because if I walk through campus with it, I would get harassed. They would steal it. I'd get thrown in a trash can. I mean, it was the 80s. That's how it was. You got picked on. And so nowadays that whole attitude has shifted so far the other way, where, I mean, for the most part, like, the cool kids in school are skate, which is wild to me. And so if I had anything to do with that shift of consciousness, I'm hugely proud of it. But just the idea that the skateboarding's part of the zeitgeist, I mean, you

[Interviewer]

helped make it popular. You helped make it okay.

[Tony Hawk]

I mean, that's my best work then.

[Interviewer]

It's pretty impressive.

[Tony Hawk]

900 Schmindred.

[Interviewer]

Were you indeed bullied? Did you feel like you were for sure?

[Tony Hawk]

Yeah. I mean, I was really small for my age. So from seventh grade on, when kids are hitting their growth spurts, I. I mean, I literally looked like. People used to think I was visiting my older brother in high school, like, especially in ninth grade. And then I was a skater. So, you know, in the hallway, skater, fag, all that stuff like that, that was rampant. And those aren't my words, you know, those are. Those are my bully's words. But like I said, we was. We didn't have any resources. We didn't, you know, we didn't know how to navigate that no one was getting trouble for was just the way that you. And, you know, that's sort of the story of Generation X, I guess.

[Interviewer]

When did you become cool?

[Tony Hawk]

I don't know. Has that happened yet?

[Interviewer]

That's funny, because you became an icon for cool. Somewhere in there you became.

[Tony Hawk]

I mean, yeah, I never was comfortable with that, that idea, that moniker, because it just. I wasn't. I never felt cool, you know, And I always felt like an outsider. Even in skateboarding, when I found skateboarding and I found this thing that I love that I want to focus on. The way that I did it was uncool. So I'm in this. I already am existing on this island of misfits, being a skateboarder, and then I'm an outcast on that island because of the way I do skateboarding. So, yeah, I just never, you know, I was always very self conscious, I think. I think I finally sort of grew into my own ease through. Through my adult years. Not even through the video game cycle, but just more coming out the other side of that and realizing what is truly important and that is my family. And. And that's when I felt much more comfortable in my own skin and I had a sense of confidence. I always felt pretty confident with my skateboarding, but more that I'm not trying to prove myself all the time, and more that it's just fun. And that is very liberating. And that kind of puts you at ease and makes you feel, I guess, better about yourself because there is sort of a. There's sort of a issue with not anxiety, but just your social skills, your socializing. The only way I knew how to socialize was skateboarding. So people thought, once I got really good at it, people thought, oh, he's just pompous. He doesn't talk to anyone. I was like, I don't know what to say. I feel just as uncomfortable as you do. Just because I'm good at that, at this doesn't make it any different.

[Interviewer]

Did you have an epiphany or anything? When it came to family and the things that you're talking about, where you're discovering the idea of. It's not just the having of kids, right?

[Tony Hawk]

No, no, no. Well, you know, I was always good with my kids when I was around, but when things started taking off, I was chasing them further than I ever should have and getting caught up in the cycle and the hype and whatever else. So I think it was more coming through that and just realizing I could just say no. That was the moment. I don't have to go to this thing. I'm saying yes to every single thing. And a lot of it is unnecessary and also not to the benefit of skateboarding. It's just to the benefit of my ego. And that was. I think that was the moment. It was probably within the last 15 years, but it was really powerful.

[Interviewer]

And you discovered that you had to say no because you'd done one too many things that you didn't want to do. You left.

[Tony Hawk]

Yeah. And I would catch myself being really far away doing something that wasn't productive. And it was like, what's the point of all this? This isn't where I was. These aren't the priorities I had or should have. And then really just making myself available. And things took a. I mean, to be honest, everything's much more rewarding. Now. Skateboarding, just the act of skateboarding means a lot more to me because I have a different perspective on it. And knowing that my kids can rely on me for whatever it is they need, even if it's just being there.

[Interviewer]

What's the different perspective that you have? Like, where did you come upon what you're talking about? There, where you're expressing the wizened wisdom of an elder.

[Tony Hawk]

It just comes with making poor choices and to the point where you're making more poor choices than good choices and recognizing that. And I think that everyone has their moment, their epiphany. Mine came gradually, then all at once.

[Interviewer]

So forgive me on this because you thought I was seizing on the perspective change on the family. I was seizing on the perspective change as it related to skateboarding, where your experience with life so far has made it so that you clearly have an appreciation for being able to still do it.

[Tony Hawk]

That moment came when I broke my leg, because it was. Even when I broke my pelvis, I knew there was this timeline and I still had events planned that I was like, okay, that's the goal. I'm going to go get. I'm going to be well enough to do this event. When I broke my leg, everything stopped. And I think when I got back to it, I came back too quickly. I sabotaged my recovery. My bone never really lined up again, so I had to have it reset. I had to have a second surgery eight months later. And once I had that surgery and realized that it all could be taken away from me so quickly like that, it gave me such a deeper appreciation for even being able to do it on a basic level. So that I think that that's the answer is it wasn't just the. The day I broke my leg. It was the moment I realized that it's not going to heal properly, and I have to go through this again. I remember, honestly, I remember my first ollie after that, when I had strength in my leg to snap up and get my board. It was like, oh, yes. And then ever since then, every ollie is a gift.

[Interviewer]

My guess would be, I don't want to speak for you here, but my guess would be that what happened there is that you realize for the first time it was a possibility that you would never be able to skate again. Where you'd never considered that?

[Tony Hawk]

I never did. No. I mean, probably that benefited me in a lot of ways because I would be willing to push limits that other people would consider consequences. I mean, Sam Jones did a whole documentary about me basically that's not really considering consequences. But I'm much better at that now.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, well, that's what you're articulating when you just said I wanted to seize from a couple of minutes ago where you seem to still be saying that you didn't realize the danger involved in what it is that you were doing.

[Tony Hawk]

I mean, of course I know that anything can go wrong, but I always was confident enough with my skill set and cavalier enough that I was. I just didn't, I wouldn't let that enter my mind. Because when you do, that's the future. That's what's going to happen when you allow these worst case scenarios to come in. Those are the ones that will play out. Yeah, I mean when I first figured out the loop ramp, in no way did I think, oh, I might fall from the top and break my pelvis. Because if I thought that I would never try it. And I figured it out, I definitely got, I got rocked along the way. Or MTV said, what kind of stunt do you want to do? I said, I want to jump between two buildings. And they set it up downtown la two seven story buildings. And I not once thought, what if something happens? Because I just. It wasn't, it wasn't going to happen.

[Interviewer]

I'm really not sure if you're supremely confident, courageous or dumb when I ask the following question. Because courage isn't the absence of fear, it's the ability to overcome fear. But it sounds like you didn't consider fear.

[Tony Hawk]

My way of overcoming fear was visualizing the successful outcome. Outcome always. It didn't always work. But in terms of, for instance, jumping a building, I'm going to get over it. I mean, I'll make it, but I'm getting over that gap no matter what. Or something with the loop or the 900, it was like, I'm going to get close enough to this that I can feel confident in trying to land it.

[Interviewer]

How many times did you fail at the 9 hundreds?

[Tony Hawk]

I don't know about thousands. Because it's such a violent crash when you try to make it and you don't, that you only get maybe five real good attempts when you're trying to learn it before your body just says no more. So through the years of 1994 to 1997, I would go through phases of trying it, but I would only get maybe 20 attempts in a session because then I'm just beat up.

[Interviewer]

The reason I asked the question is because there's no reason for you to have confidence that you're going to be able to do it if you failed 100 times before.

[Tony Hawk]

When I. When I. I always knew, I always felt like it was possible. And then when all the pieces I came together that I thought. I thought I had the pieces of the puzzle and I broke my rib, that really set me back because I was like that. That was the moment I had everything I needed and it didn't work. I don't know what I did wrong. I mean, I obviously know what I did wrong in leaning too far forward, but I don't know if I have it in me to get to that point again. And so when, when the X games, the. The 99X games came along, I had tried it a few times since then, but. And got somewhat close, but I didn't really have the. The drive or the desire to try to set it down again because of what had happened to me. And so when I got to X Games, the best trick event, I was not going to try that because I. That was not my best trick. I'd never done that trick. So how could I go forward with something that was unknown? So I had a different trick in mind. I made that trick halfway into the event, then I had nowhere to go. And the announcer, the Dave Duncan, who was the MC of the live event, not, not the one on air, but the one that was for the live crowd, he said he's gonna try that 900. Like, let's see that 900. I'm like, oh, no, I don't want to try that. Like, I haven't figured that one out, but I guess why not try it for the crowd? And somewhere around my third or fourth attempt, I had a consistent spin, I had consistent speed. The ramp was built better than any ramp that we had skated in those days. And I thought, you know what, If I'm ever going to try to land it again, even if I get hurt, it would be here, because this is the biggest thing we've ever had. And I've got my peers supporting me. I've got the support of the crowd. The time had ended, but I just wanted to make the trick. Like, I didn't think it was going to count for the event. And I remember thinking, all right, just going to throw one down. And I threw one down and I fell forward again, but I didn't break my rib, and I got up pretty quick. And that was the moment that I knew I could do it, because I thought, oh, I'll get another chance at it. And I'm going to shift my weight to my back foot as I spin. That's the key. And I did that. And then when I landed, I fell backwards, and it was like I just got to split the difference. And then I made the next one.

[Interviewer]

Where does that rank in terms of the best individual feelings you've ever had in any moment of doing this?

[Tony Hawk]

That was definitely best. That was my best competitive performance. That was. And it was definitely one of the heights of progression and learning tricks that I could ever experience. I mean, I never expected it to be in front of an audience like that. When I first tried it to make it in 1996, I was literally on a ramp in a warehouse by myself with my friend, shooting video on a Hi8 camera. And then fast forward to three years later and it's live on ESPN. It was just absurd.

[Interviewer]

And maybe you couldn't have done it if not for all of those factors pushing you into the air. Right.

[Tony Hawk]

Like, all of them, I suppose there's definitely a. There's definitely a synchronicity that I tried to do it so many times for a video or just for myself, and I just came up short, and it had to be that time.

[Interviewer]

Do you think about legacy at all?

[Tony Hawk]

I try not to because it just makes you feel so old.

[Interviewer]

But consequences again, thinking about mortality and thinking about.

[Tony Hawk]

I mean, legacy. It's such a lofty word, too. I hope my legacy is someone that brought more attention to skateboarding, represented it well, and provided more places to do it. That's the best I can hope for.

[Interviewer]

I mean, you know that. That's so right. It's not just Tony Hawk's Vertalert that takes place in Utah this summer. It's also what we were talking about, the skate park project.

[Tony Hawk]

Skatepark project, Yeah. I mean, that's definitely my proudest work. Also, the idea that now that skateboarding is so prolific that I'm drawing more attention to this discipline of skateboarding, which is half vertical, half pipe skating, because that's still one that I think is underappreciated. It was almost gone from the X Games when they brought it back. I'm campaigning for it to be in the Olympics. It won't be in la because it has to go through a different process. But I feel like it is a valid part of skateboarding and one that crowds appreciate, one that, that even skaters themselves appreciate. And so that's what I'm doing with vert alert. We started this competition when there were very few vert events six years ago. Yes. It's in Salt Lake City at the Huntsman Center, August 21st, 22nd. It's free to the public. It's the best vert skating, the best vert skaters. But since we started that, a bunch of other events have come to pass and I'm really proud of that. In fact, like one I just watched last night, vert's back in the X Games. They have a series called Jackalope. There is a series coming up in Brazil called Stu. Like that's for me, that's more of my selfish legacy, is that I was able to help vert skating get back on the map.

[Interviewer]

What would the 17, 18, 19 year old you say if I told him? From what is now Tony Hawk's adult perspective, you're not going to believe what unspools in your life here over the next three or four decades.

[Tony Hawk]

I say, you mean when I'm 30? Yeah. Right?

[Interviewer]

Yeah. You weren't thinking that far ahead, right?

[Tony Hawk]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

You didn't think that you'd be this age to be able to look back on it.

[Tony Hawk]

I remember Thrasher printing a photo of Mark Lake, who was a legendary skater from Florida. And I was maybe 20, and it said Mark Lake, 30 and still ripping. And I remember thinking, wow, he's still skating at 30. That's wild.

[Interviewer]

When did you get more comfortable? No longer being shy or uncomfortable in front of microphones or just whatever the discomforts were at the beginning that you had with fame.

[Tony Hawk]

There wasn't some, some aha moment for that. Just gradually figuring it out and realizing that this is what will be expected of me, especially with video games. I mean, I was going on press tours, like I was going to Australia for a week. I was going to the uk, all over Europe and being interviewed endlessly. And I think I just got used to that.

[Interviewer]

How long were you bad at it or shy or uncomfortable? Did you feel shy and uncomfortable?

[Tony Hawk]

Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean that was. But you know, all that stuff's documented. But if you look at interviews, me in the 80s, like I was not good. No, I mean, but also I was very self deprecating. I think there was one interview where I said, you know, who's your main competition today? And I say, I think I'm gonna have a hard time beating anyone that entered this contest.

[Interviewer]

You Just didn't. You didn't like the process, though, right? That's not what you were there for. You weren't there to talk about it.

[Tony Hawk]

But also, we had no. We had no guidance. I mean, we had no one to look up to that had already made these things happen and was good at it. It was like, I don't know. What do you want me to say? I'm here to skate.

[Interviewer]

Why are you interviewing skateboarders? Nobody ever interviews the skateboarders, right?

[Tony Hawk]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Because you're speaking of the most primitive of times. You're really talking like the original caveman. The original caveman of skateboarding, I suppose.

[Tony Hawk]

I mean, but I was just really young, too, and I was so intense with competition that it was like, why do you want to talk to me? This is what's happening. This is my thing. I mean, there was one event where I was kind of. I don't think I was really happy with my skating at the time, and I was just sort of bitter about the event and how I was feeling. And they said, you know, how you feeling today? I was like, I don't feel like skating. That was my interview. Cool.

[Interviewer]

It's a shitty interview.

[Tony Hawk]

Oh, yeah. Thanks for the sound bite, Tony.

[Interviewer]

Good to see you. You never hear an athlete do that when they're talking to him. Yeah, I don't feel like doing this.

[Tony Hawk]

And my sponsor is like, great. Glad we flew you out.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. And you were just. And was it. You were just feeling moody that day you decided to be honest?

[Tony Hawk]

I think I just wasn't happy with my skating. And I was always my worst critic.

[Interviewer]

You are obsessive. Right. You would have to be. And in order to be the kind of great you were at what you were doing, you have to be compulsive. Or still are, really. Your body doesn't. Can't do the things that it did. But you have to be compulsive as, like, a sculptor, right?

[Tony Hawk]

Well, I didn't have to be, but I was. And I didn't know any other way. And I think what I missed in that process was the camaraderie that everyone else felt because we were all suddenly thrust into a spotlight and traveling the world, and everyone's having a blast, and I'm just like, I have to do the best I can do. I have to get. You know, I have to learn new tricks. I have to figure out strategy. And I was locked in. And, I mean, definitely it saved me from falling down a party route, but at the same time, when I look back, I wasn't really one of the guys. I was sort of on my own island trying to figure this out.

[Interviewer]

Is it because you were more competitive than they were?

[Tony Hawk]

I just thought I had to prove myself at every turn because when I was growing up, especially at events, I felt like no one likes what I do. They don't like the way I do it, and so I have to step it up. And then when I got sponsored by the bones Brigade, there was a lot of talk like that kid, bones Brigade. So I was like, I have to prove myself to be on this team. You know, there were always these sort of these stepping stones that was like, well, I have to prove myself worthy of that.

[Interviewer]

But it was still joyful. Right? You were just an outsider for it. It wasn't a team sport.

[Tony Hawk]

It was intense for sure, but it was the most fun was skating. I mean, honestly, the most fun for me was the day after a contest because all that pressure was lifted and I could go try new tricks. And so I was back on the ramp or in the pool the next day.

[Interviewer]

That's funny to hear you say that though, because that's adding expectations, pressures, money, commerce, all of it to it. It makes it less pure than what it is that you.

[Tony Hawk]

Oh, I mean, at some point it drove me away from it. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Thank you, Tony, for the time. Thank you for the work. I will tell people again. State park project. Check out everything he's [e-mail] thank you for spending the time with us, sir.

[Tony Hawk]

Thanks for having me. Some Follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money. Whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion dollar swing, there's a money side to every story. Get the money side of the story. Subscribe [e-mail].