Tony Hawk

Tony gets air. (visionaryartistrymag.com)

Tony Hawk is a hero for many reasons. Not only is he a great skateboarder, but he gives to charities. He is the best skateboarder of all time and he is a determined athlete and a devoted father. For these reasons he is a hero to me and many others.

Tony was born in San Diego California on May 12, 1968. His parents, Frank and Nancy also had two other girls and one other boy. From the time Tony was young he loved sports, especially skateboarding. His dad and older brother, Steve, taught Tony to skate and gave him his first fiberglass board which is called a banana. It was much skinnier than today's skateboards, but it gave him his start. After reading Skateboarder magazine, Tony was inspired to push himself as a skateboarder. He entered his first competition at the young age of 11.

Tony has had many challenges in his life. He is a risk-taker because he had trouble doing most of the tricks. Tony's small size made many of them difficult. Another challenge that Tony constantly faces is that if he does a trick wrong, he can get seriously hurt. If he failed a tournament he wouldn't stop trying. His practice and patience would get him through until he accomplished the trick, then he would win the next tournament. He continues to push himself and challenge himself by coming up with new tricks.

There are many things that Tony has accomplished. Tony has helped to make skateboarding a popular and mainstream sport. Many people thought and still believe it is an unsafe sport. However, it can be safe and fun as long as you skateboard in a place specifically made for this sport. Also, wearing all your safety gear keeps you safe. Tony was so popular the company Dogtown saw him in action they wanted to sponsor him so he would wear Dogtown's advertisement on his clothes. When he goes somewhere to skate, the audience can see what he is wearing and they might go out and buy some of the same items he has. Tony made a lot of money for Dogtown. Another accomplishment is appearing in a movie with Christian Slater called Gleaming the Cube. Tony even appeared in ads for milk and for the soda Mountain Dew.

Tony has won many awards. First, he finished first place during his entire tour with the Bones Brigade. They traveled to Europe and Australia. This happened in the summer of 1983. Tony was 15 years old and the youngest with the Brigade. In 1984, 1985 and 1986 he won the NSA championship. At that time he was considered the best skateboarder in the world. He was on the cover of Thrasher magazine and he was on MTV and other TV appearances. Another accomplishment for Tony is that he established the Tony Hawk foundation. This is a charity that promotes skateboarding. Tony gives about $400,000 per year to communities to help them pay for skate parks.

Tony has several personal qualities that help him to be successful. He is very determined because he failed his first skateboarding competition, but that made him more determined to win. He would not give up. He worked hard to learn hard, complex trick. Another quality that Tony has is he is creative. For example, Tony invented between 50 & 100 skateboarding tricks. A few were called "stale fish", "air walk" and the "Ollie" 540. Another quality Tony has is he's a good father because Tony has three kids and he is a proud dad and spends more time with his wife and his kids than he does skateboarding.

In conclusion, Tony is a hero for many reasons. The lesson I learned was that Tony is a hard worker and never gives up.