(June 28, 1963 – Nov. 2, 2021) excerpt from Womxn Skate History by Natalie Porter Elisabeth “Eli” Meyers (RIP) was from Schoten, a town in Antwerp, Belgium and is considered the country’s first ripping female skater. Meyers was introduced to skateboarding by her brother and friends, and she consistently skateboarded into her fifties. “In those days, there …
(May 17, 1974 – December 10, 2022) Rode for G&S Skateboards Rode for Sacrifice Skateboards
Find Steve on Social Media Any beginner who tail drops in on vertical owes a big thanks to Steve Cathey, who invented that most basic and necessary of skate moves way back in 1977. (Around the same time, he also pioneered spinning 360s on two boards on flat ground.) In the realm of equipment, Steve …
A shoeless Samoan with hamburger feet, Chris Yandall was one of the top pro slalom racers of the mid-1970s. Right after graduating from high school in Michigan, Chris started skateboarding and moved to Pacific Beach, San Diego, California, where he became the manager of PB Surf Shop. By 1974, Chris could lay claim to two …
Find Doug on Social Media Douglas Keith Saladino was born of Filipino and Japanese heritage and raised in San Diego, California. He started skating in third grade on a homemade board his dad made him. When Cadillac Wheels came out in 1973, Doug began surf skating curbs and getting tubed under overhanging bushes. By the …
Find Dennis on Social Media Born in San Diego, California, Dennis Martinez started skating and surfing at age 10 on a red Roller Derby with metal wheels. Around 1974, Dennis was slalom racing at La Costa and practicing freestyle, eventually getting sponsored by Bahne. In 1976, he got into pool riding at the Soul Bowl …
Jeff Phillips is widely recognized as one of the most powerful vertical skateboarders of the 1980s. More beast than man, he relentlessly shook the ramp, pounded the coping and launched way above it with the utmost force. Starting out buttboarding in Dallas, Texas at age 10 on a 4” x 10” Shark skateboard with steel …
Follow Neil on Instagram Neil Blender’s influence on skateboarding is so far and wide–in every realm and direction–that a short summary of his contributions is nearly impossible to undertake. If Jay Adams set the mold for the perennial bad boy, Blender was the creative yin to Adams’ aggressive yang. Born in 1963, Blender grew up …
Find Stacy Peralta on Facebook and Instagram As one of the top pro skateboarders of the 1970s, Stacy Peralta’s atoms were activated across a wide swath of reality: participating in a lion’s share of contests, demos and tours, and appearing in a mammoth mound of magazines, movies and merchandise. After a lucrative career riding for …
