Tony Hawk

In 1969, in the town of San Diego, Tony Hawk was born. He was very much of a surprise to his parents. Tony began being mischievious while he was still in his crib! Since his parents were always at work, they hired a nanny to watch him for the day. Tony liked her, but he didn’t like the fact that she had control over what he ate. He did everything he could to stop her. He threw toys at her from his crib when she peeked over the side of it to check on him. He rarely hit her, but he always tried and never gave up. After awhile, the nanny quit and Tony’s parents stayed home from work. When Tony didn’t get something he wanted, he would cry. Then he would get what he wanted. By instinct, he thought that the whole world would be as easy to manipulate.

Reality whacked him in the face right after his dad dropped him off at preschool. Tony stared at the tall fence. The school would be impossible to escape from. Why would his dad leave him in such a horrible place! The first day of school for Tony was the worst day of his life. At lunch they were forced to sit with their heads down for one minute before they ate. Tony’s least favorite part was naptime. Tony was a very hyper kid and had to be deeply involved in something or he went crazy from being bored. He had to devise a plan to escape. After a few months of failed attempts, he became obsessed with escaping. But then he devised an ultimate escape plan. He would cry. It worked with his parents, so he figured it would work with teachers, too. The next day, when he came to school, he locked his fingers around the fence, and started crying. Not just little weepy tears, his eyes turned bloodshot red, his nose was running, and he swung his head side to side to ward off any teacher. Eventually, a teacher came and pried him off. The next day he did the same thing. After a few weeks of this, the principal called his dad over to the school. The principal informed Tony’s dad that he was permanently expelled. He had done it! He would never have to go to Christopher Robin Preschool ever again!

Instead of punishing him, his dad bought him a new electric car that he could sit in and drive. His dad thought that it was funny. His mom watched him from the kitchen zooming around and smacking into furniture with the biggest smile. His best friend was his brother, Steve. When Steve went away to college, Tony was devastated. He went to visit once a month though.

One day when Steve and Tony were digging around in the garage to find something to do, Steve pulled out a blue fiberglass skateboard. He told Tony to try to ride it. Tony pushed it up and down the alley behind his house. There was only one problem, he could not turn! He would either run into the fence or jump off of the board right before it hit the fence. After awhile, Steve taught him how to turn. Tony pushed up and down the alley about once a week. Tony liked it, but it was nothing he wanted to do constantly. After awhile, Tony developed an interest in skateboarding. Soon, skateboarding was something that Tony did daily. Things were getting even better. There were 3 kids at Tony’s school who skateboarded. Everyday Tony and his skate friends would gather at Tony’s house and push around in the alley and try to improve their balance. There was a skate park in Tony’s town called Oasis. Even when he didn’t skate, he would like to lean out of the car window and look at all the little ‘ants’ skating. One day a kid from his school asked him if he wanted to skate at Oasis with him. Tony had to beg his parents to let him go to Oasis.

After winning his first skate contest, a pro skater named Stacy Peralta liked what she saw and became his sponsor. When Tony turned 14, Stacy asked him if he wanted to turn pro. Tony wasn’t exactly sure, but he checked the pro box and that was that.

Tony’s first pro board was not a good seller. His friend drew a picture of a hawk swooping down on a building. He gave it to Stacy and Stacy printed it on the board. One kid liked him enough to buy his board. He made a whopping 85 cents.

One time, Tony was invited to a skate camp in Sweden to be an instructor. Tony thought that a few weeks in a skate camp would be perfect. He was very wrong. He barely got to skate at all! When Tony got home, he skated in a few more contests for Stacy, and made a new pro model. His new pro model was a lot better. It was a bird skull in front of an iron cross. His friends liked to joke around and call it “the screaming chicken skull."

In the early 90’s, Tony became popular and skating was back in style. The sports channel called ESPN made an extreme sports contest called the X-games. Tony was in it all through the 90’s. In 1999, Tony wasn’t too exited for the X-games that year. However, he did want to compete in the best trick competition. Tony landed a variable 720 and he was proud of himself. But when he was ready to drop in again, he knew he wanted to land a 900-degree spin. He was afraid to do it because he had once broken a rib trying it 5 years before. He tried it about 11 times and always knee slid down the ramp. On his 12th try, his hand skimmed the ramp. He landed the 9!! After that, he retired from skating.

That is what happened in Tony Hawk’s life.