My Hero is Tony Hawk. As most people know, Tony is a pro skateboarder. When he was little he was like you and me, a ticking bomb full of energy getting ready to go off any moment.
But Tony Hawk always had problems. So his parents had him psychologically evaluated at school. It turned out he had a 12-year old mind in an 8-year old body, and he was always beating himself up because his mind was telling him to do stuff his body couldn’t keep up with.
Finally one day his big brother pitched him a blue fiber-glass skateboard. When he got older he became good at it but was still hard on himself. Skateboarding changed his personality completely. But the strange thing was, Tony was always pushing himself even if he was not in a contest. His mother said she was happy that he was taking his anger out on his board instead of taking it out on her.
By the age of twelve Tony Hawk was sponsored by Dogtown skateboards. By the age of fourteen, he went pro. By age sixteen he was practically the best skateboarder in the world. By the age of seventeen, he had entered over 100 pro contests. He won 73 of them.
When Tony was in his 20s he had his first kid, Riley Hawk. When Riley was about seven, Tony was shooting a commercial one day. He messed up pretty badly and wrecked. Unfortunately, He sliced his shins open. Instead of going to the doctor, (What he should have done) he went to pick up Riley. Goes to show how much he loves his kids.
By the age of 31 Tony Hawk retired from competitive skateboarding. But he still does go to skate parks and go nuts. Recently he and a bunch of other skateboarders are working on “Project 8”
Page created on 8/20/2008 12:00:00 AM
Last edited 8/20/2008 12:00:00 AM