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Rodney Mullen (born August 17 1966, Gainesville, Florida) is a professional skateboarder, and is widely considered the most influential skateboarder in the history of the sport. The majority of ollie and flip tricks he invented throughout the 1980's, including the flatground ollie, the Kickflip, the Heelflip, and the 360 flip are regularly done in modern vertical and street skateboarding.
Despite Alan Gelfand's justifiable fame for inventing the ollie air (Gelfand's maneuver being primarily a vert or pool oriented trick) Mullen is largely responsible for the invention and development of the street ollie. The ability to pop the board off of the ground and land back on the board while moving has quite likely been the most significant development in modern skateboarding. This invention alone would rank Mullen among the most important skateboarders of all time along with Tony Alva, Mark Gonzales, Tony Hawk, Pat Duffy and Danny Way.
Early career
Mullen started skateboarding at age 10, when his father (who had opposed his son's wishes to practice the sport) finally agreed to give Rodney a skateboard on condition that he always wore pads, and with the understanding that if he were to ever get hurt, he would have to quit. On January 1, 1977 he bought his first skateboard. His first sponsor was Bill Murray at Inland Surf Shop where Rodney used to skate in their carpark. He rode a Walker Skateboard in his first contest at Kona in Jacksonville in 1977, placing third in Boys Freestyle. The 10-year old attracted the attention of skateboard manufacturer Bruce Walker and immediately became sponsored by Walker Skateboards. For the next 3 years, Rodney took first place in every contest he entered. He went on to win nearly 30 contests, mostly in Florida, and culminated with a win at the Oceanside Nationals in California. His coaching influence came mainly from Bruce Walker and Barry Zaritsky. In 1980 at 13 he turned professional by winning first place at the Oasis Pro in San Diego, and began skateboarding for the legendary Powell Peralta Bones Brigade team. Stacy Peralta became Rodney's new coach and sponsor. 10 years and 34 freestyle competitions later Rodney was only beaten once by Per Welinder, and in this competition he still got second. This is considered to be the best record in skateboard history.
In 1988, Mullen appeared in the feature film Gleaming the Cube, alongside fellow Bones Brigade team members and movie star Christian Slater. Mullen's other videos include The Bones Brigade Video Show (1984), Future-Primitive (1985), Bones Brigade Video III: The Search for Animal Chin (1986), and Public Domain (1988), World Industries: Rubbish Heap (1989), Plan B: Questionable (1992), Plan B: Virtual Reality (1993), Plan B: Second Hand Smoke (1995), the Rodney Mullen vs. Daewon Song series, Globe Opinion, and most recently Round Three. He also appeared as a guest on the tv show That's Incredible! (Nov. 1988).
His autobiography The Mutt came out in 2004.
Later career
In 1991, Rodney Mullen began transitioning into street skateboarding as the freestyle skateboard days came to an end. He picked up this more popular form of skateboarding quick enough to have an influential and enduring part in the legendary skateboard video "Questionable" by Plan B Skateboards. This was followed up by the even more dramatic technical street skate part of his in "Virtual Reality" (1993). He fully evolved as a street skater throughout the 1990's, which culminated with the "Rodney Mullen vs. Daewon Song" series, starring him and his friend Daewon Song.
In 2003, Rodney released his autobiography, " How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself". It tells the nearly complete story of his life from when he was a little kid with "torture boots", to when he proposed to his girlfriend Traci. All the while, the book keeps a hilarious, upbeat mood.
He continues to revolutionize the world of skateboarding and inspire kids all over the world who watch his videos, as well as help to keep freestyle skateboarding alive. The number of skaters who claim to skate freestyle sharply increased after the release of Round Three.
Rodney Mullen also has appeared in the Tony Hawk Video-Game series from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 to the most recent Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. He will also appear in the forthcoming Tony Hawk's Project 8, making his seventh appearance in the series.
References
- Walker, Bruce. Rodney's sponsor and coach from 1977 to 1980. oceanave@aol.com, http://www.floridaskater.com/floridaskater%20bruce%20walker%20profile.htm
- Brooke, Michael (1999). Concrete Wave: The History Of Skateboarding. ISBN 1-894020-54-5.
External links
American skateboarders | 1966 births | Living people | People from Gainesville, Florida
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"Rodney Mullen"