Oh the memories. As a 12 year old skater in 1986 I had the pleasure of skating with the Zorlac team in Killeen Tx when they came to promote H.O.T windsurfing's new halfpipe. John Gibson gave me pointers on landing my backside airs. Jeff Newton gave me a Zorlac T-shirt and a handful of stickers. I'll never forget that day.
Definitely a Letters for Pushead is needed!! There is a really good interview with Pushead in an issue of Juice magazine a while back that covers all that. 👍🏽
The girl in the photo is my wife. She used to hang out with Craig Johnson at the Blue Ramp so it would make sense if that photo was taken at Bachman Lake or at a pool or skate competition in Houston. She's a little weirded out cause she doesn't remember the photo being taken, but she said those are totally her shorts that she borrowed from her friend Kim. Was the article from Thrasher? What month/year?
This is from the beginning of my memory as a skater. That clown ramp was so huge to me. I went to Bachman Lake for my birthday and got wrecked kick turning on that beast. Then I ate shit on the street spine. Been hooked ever since.
I really like how this show has been expanding, this season with locations of history. I can't wait to see what is to come! Seattle? Virginia Beach? Florida? NY? Either way I can't wait!
Newton, Phillips, Wilkes, Johnson, Gibson!!! So grateful for these originals! The Clown Ramp was such a great scene, I feel so lucky to have had that experience. Thank you Melvin! Liking these new Love Letters. Thanks Grosso.
Such a shame that Jeff Phillips is not still with us. Definitely in my top 5 skaters of all time. Lance called him a vert machine. That photo of Tex, Craig and Jeff really reminds me of me and my friends in the mid 80’s. 3 of us in a small town building ramps and skating 24/7.
We're feeling the love here on our end, Robert! If you haven't already, catch more from Jeff Grosso's Loveletters To Skateboarding here: bit.ly/2yDCO51
That was great!! Could have been twice as long though. Texas always seemed gnarly back then to me. Those guys were hardcore! I wanted to skate those ditches, they looked super fun!
Yeah these episode's are FOREVER going to be RELEVANT!!!i watch them over and over just because GROSSO is and always will be my favorite SK8R and HERO. Shout out to Oliver may he get what he has coming!(every thing)
WOW my hands were sweating and my heart pumping just by watching this letters! Excellent video guys cheers to everyone on it ! Thank-you Doctor Grosso !
Oh dude. great episode. I met Craig, John, Jeff, in 1986 in Killeen Texas. Our local skate shop (H.O.T Windsurfing) built a halfpipe and Zorlac came and did a demo. God I miss the 80's.
Thank you for the great trip down memory lane! Backyard Ramp Series, let's see, Corpus, Austin, Galveston, Dallas, Houston, yup, think I went to them all. Hey, Newton, you still look pretty much the same, just a little older...me too, just an old Corpus skater.
I loved the Big Boys! I loved Big John’s style. Jeff Philips kicked ass as well. it doesn’t matter where you live, Skaters are all the same. It’s a brotherhood that can’t be broken!
Having been in the midst of this scene while it was happening, skating with all these people and having played with these bands, this video is basically a 13 minute orgasm.
I remember going to the P-Ramp in Pasadena and seeing Gibson, Johnson, Prince and assorted others kill this ramp. I knew things were gnarly then. Such good times.
I was lucky enough to watch a lot of these guys from Texas skate the fiberglass ramp and the pool at Kona and a later on a few of them on Big Blue behind the J wall. I'm pretty sure that the Houston ramp is why Marty used steel on Big Blue. It was fast as fuck!
I remember the first time I dropped in on that giant blue motherfucker in Houston...all I could do was transfer to the other deck but I was a king among my friends because none of them even tried to drop in....1985-86 right after they painted it blue and built the red 9’ next to it. Had 3-4’ of vert
Back in the mid- 80s, kids who rode Zorlac boards or the crew u skated with had a homey who skated and rep'd Zorlac boards- more than likely he was the badass of the bunch!! There was a certain type of skater that was attracted to Zorlac boards. Sick/ Gnarly graffics with demons, ghouls and zombies made up the art on these boards and the kids who were in out of juvy for minor thefts, vandalism and a occasional fist fight with their step- dad or their Ma's boyfriend at the time rode these boards. I personally loved the boards with the " Shut Up & Skate" logos were sick and it represented what skating was all about in the 80s. I even sported a grey Zorlac sweat-shirt and a Craig Johnson T'shirt which I wore til it had way to many holes!!! The boards were kinda heavy than most boards around then but at the same time I was 11\12 yrs of age. Great company with some of the best vert riders of all time- FUKIN amazing team!!! Thanx Vans and Rosso for another awesome mini doc!!!
Great to see the history of Zorlac. I started in 86 at 10 and we thought the spooky graphics and shapes were wack. Powell was on the way out and Vision was hot. Funny how little kids drive the skate trends.
Me and my friend went to skatepark of Houston about 10 years ago and got 30-40 sheets off metal from the ramp and built a few ramps out of it. Now all that metal is roached out and thrown away. I still got a piece in my backyard
Awesome vid brings back memories bought my first bag ig weed at orange grove Orange ramp they where selling it like popcorn haha also bought the PD pads their great knee pads
This is when skate boarding was on the fringe, people were loose and insane. Skating nowadays is technical X Games type stuff. The 80s were awesome time for skating.
I remember reading a story in one of the magazines that Wilkes picked up a hitch hiker. The guy ended up stealing Wilkes' car and completely torching it.
I once had a purple velcro emu with special attachments that required inflating with microscopic tools that i had made special in private tunnels so called because of the inherent properties known as dungeon juice we'd excrete directly into tubes that flowed through nodules hidden in your dad's moustache . That was then .
