Hawk: Occupation: Skateboarder (Hardcover)

by Tony Hawk (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"An inside look at the molding of a great role model--there's so much more than just the 900!" -- --Bob Burnquist, world champion skater

"The legend spills all." -- --Nylon

Product Description

For Tony Hawk, it wasn't enough to skate for two decades, to invent more than eighty tricks, and to win more than twice as many professional contests as any other skater. It wasn't enough to knock himself unconscious more than ten times, fracture several ribs, break his elbow, knock out his teeth twice, compress the vertebrae in his back, pop his bursa sack, get more than fifty stitches laced into his shins, rip apart the cartilage in his knee, bruise his tailbone, sprain his ankles, and tear his ligaments too many times to count. No. He had to land the 900. And after thirteen years of failed attempts, he nailed it.It had never been done before.

Growing up in Sierra Mesa, California, Tony was a hyperactive demon child with an I44 IQ.He threw tantrums, terrorized the nanny until she quit, exploded with rage whenever he lost a game; this was a kid who was expelled from preschool. When his brother, Steve, gave him a blue plastic hand-me-down skateboard and his father built a skate ramp in the driveway, Tony finally found his outlet--while skating, he could be as hard on himself as he was on everyone around him.

But it wasn't an easy ride to the top of the skating game. Fellow skaters mocked his skating style and dubbed him a circus skater. He was so skinny he had to wear elbow pads on his knees, and so light he had to ollie just to catch air off a ramp. He was so desperate to be accepted by young skating legends like Steve Caballero, Mike McGill, and Christian Hosoi that he ate gum from between Steve's toes. But a few years of determination and hard work paid off in multiple professional wins, and the skaters who once had mocked him were now trying to learn his tricks. Tony had created a new style of skating.

In Hawk Tony goes behind the scenes of competitions, demos, and movies and shares the less glamorous demands of being a skateboarder--from skating on Italian TV wearing see-through plastic shorts to doing a demo in Brazil after throwing up for five days straight from food poisoning. He's dealt with teammates who lit themselves and other subjects on fire, driving down a freeway as the dashboard of their van burned. He's gone through the unpredictable ride of the skateboard industry during which, in the span of a few years, his annual income shrank to what he had made in a single month and then rebounded into seven figures. But Tony's greatest difficulty was dealing with the loss of his number one fan and supporter--his dad, Frank Hawk.

With brutal honesty, Tony recalls the stories of love, loss, bad hairdos, embarrassing '80s clothes, and his determination that had shaped his life. As he takes a look back at his experiences with the skateboarding legends of the '70s, '80s, and '90s, including Stacy Peralta, Eddie Elguera, Lance Mountain, Mark Gonzalez, Bob Burnquist, and Colin Mckay, he tells the real history of skateboarding--and also what the future has in store for the sport and for him.

   

 

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: HarperEntertainment; 1st Edition edition (August 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060198605
• ISBN-13: 978-0060198602
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #910,389 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thanks, Tony . . ., August 7, 2000

By	gregory mitchell (NYC, USA) - See all my reviews

Since seeing Adam Rich sporting Ocean Pacific shirts on "Eight is Enough" as an impressionable 7 year old, I knew I was growing up on the wrong coast. I had such a fierce attraction to California and the way life was lived over there, and that interest has followed me for most of my life - the films of Paul Thomas Anderson, the proliferation of late-70s & early 80s era E! True Hollywood Stories, and now the autobiography of my lifelong idol & hero Tony Hawk.

For 15 years I have admired Hawk, both as an amazing individual and as a link to my past. "Hawk - Occupation: Skateboarder" is a well written memoir that illustrates both the man and the when/where/how of his growth as both a person and a legend of his sport.

Hawk's involvement in the Big 80s boom of skateboarding cannot be understated - and the fact that he weathered the subsequent Great Depression of the sport and emerged a better skater *and* a better person for it illustrates his great character.

The book is lots of fun too, because it serves as an inadvertent time capsule of what life was like in the 80s for Tony and dozens of other skaters: bleached bangs hanging over their eyes while crashing into the popular conscience, riding the back bumper of the Hollywood-mobile and onto movie screens across America, and jet-setting across Europe & Japan - all the while sporting 2 Swatches on one arm and decked out in hot pink Jams shorts. Awesome!

But just as important as the movie sets, the demos in Tokyo and the goofing off in Switzerland is *the* picture of 80s California skate culture: the backyard ramp jams. Half a dozen friends hanging out in the hot sun, cooling off with cold Cokes and chowing on some good BBQ. At the age of 25, I will still admit to being very very jealous.

And hell, when those friends happen to all have their names on T-Shirts, their own signature skate decks and are mobbed at shopping malls . . well that makes for an interesting life and times. "Hawk - Occupation: Skateboarder" does a wonderful job of showing this life, as well as the bottoming out of that mentality and lifestyle in the early 90s - skating's Dark Ages.

Tony's - and skateboarding's - slow and wildly successful recovery from that period is every bit as interesting and meaningful as the Big Years (albeit with more lessons learned and hardships endured). All great heroes need to suffer a little to battle back, and Tony's reflections on his various personal and professional setbacks are honest and real.

Today, in the Here and Now, I have the great pleasure of watching my boyhood idol live a happy and successful life - at the top of his career and with the love of a beautiful family. Starting my own little family has given me the pleasure of sharing one more cool thing with my hero - marriage and fatherhood. "Hawk - Occupation: Skateboarder" is an intelligent, well done biography that will satisfy fans and enlighten those who may not realize that a Legend (aka: Cool, Normal Guy) walks among us - when he's not floating and spinning several feet above , that is.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes a boy want to read!, November 15, 2000

By	Carolyn Martinez (Farmington, New Mexico USA) - See all my reviews

I am 'Squigman's' mother. Squigman is 9 years old and has been interested in extreme sports ever since he was a baby. He told me that he wanted one thing for Christmas, and that was Tony Hawk's book. Other Christmas's his list of 'I wants' was long and harsh . . .Playstations, electric jeeps, action figures, but this year . . .he wants . . .a book! Imagine that, the boy wants to read an actual 'chapter' book. I have every confidence that he will read it, cover to cover because for the last several years skateboarding magazines is all the child will read. Harry Potter? Who's that? My son has a real flesh and blood hero and his name is Tony Hawk.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best skateboarding book EVER!!!!, August 8, 2000

By A Customer

Skateboarding books are Definetly exiting, but when the birdman writes one it's ausome. Tony Hawk is the best Skateboarder ever, and if you are looking to become a pro or even a hobbiest you should purchase this book. It tells you the way of his life and how he got to where he is today. This book is the perfect gift for any skateboarder or even something for yourself!