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I first met "Jimmy" McCall at a skateboard contest at the Eau Gallie Civic Center in Melbourne during the summer of 1975. I had been skating for two years and was fairly confident about my chances in the "boys freestyle" competition until this long-haired, barefoot kid showed up and started riding the downhill slalom course…on his hands! This guy even had a matching "ThunderRoll" shirt and skateboard!

His effortless routine included multiple 360's and walk-the-dogs, which at the time was one of the coolest tricks I'd ever seen. Needless to say, Jimmy won that contest "hands down". The following year, as the East Coast's first professional skateboarder, Jim was thrust into the national spotlight with a strong 5th place showing at the Magic Mountain contest in California which included a 2nd place in the preliminaries.

This followed by a "Who's Hot" feature in the February 1977 issue of Skateboarder magazine. A couple of years and many contest victories later, including three Florida state championships, Jim had become one of, if not the best freestyler in the world, he had his own line of Walker skateboard decks and wheels and was easily the most recognized skater on the east coast. One of the things I remember most in growing up with Jim was his pool and ramp riding skill. We built several ramps, many in Jim's backyard, always modifying them to meet the demands of our expanding repertoire of maneuvers.

Obviously "world-famous" for his freestyle expertise, Jim was also one of the most aggressive and stylish vert skaters I'd ever seen. I can recall Jim in '77 doing frontside airs before seeing Alva and company doing them in the magazines. Jim and fellow skater Paul Patala also perfected today's "invert", which at that time we called the "Patala Pop-Out" named after it's true inventor. Like most "old-school" skaters Jim fell victim to the skateboarding drought of the early 80's and hung up his wheels in favor of waves, working and women. In 1985, while judging a skateboard contest in Jacksonville, McCall saw some of his skate pals from the 70's still ripping, came down with a case of skate fever and resurrected his freestyle career.

The high points of Jim's comeback tour were an August,'86 trip to the World Finals in Vancouver, Canada (which included a photo in Sports Illustrated) and the January '87 East Coast freestyle championships held in Pensacola. Unfortunately, Jim's former protégé, Rodney Mullen, who had never taken a break from the sport, was the World Champion and undisputed "King of the Flatland"…pretty much unbeatable. Now in 2002, after watching Mr. McCall zip around Kona at the KFSJ, don't be surprised if he has one more comeback left in that 40 year-old body! Regardless, "Jimmy" McCall will go down in skateboarding history as one of Florida's classiest professionals and a true pioneer of the sport. It was a proud moment for me to be with Jim as he was inducted into the Florida Skateboarder Hall of Fame at the KFSJ in April '02. No one deserved it more.

"Jim was an excellent all around skater and an amazing freestyler. He could skate better upside down on his hands than a lot of people could on their feet. Jim is a soft spoken guy who was way ahead of his time. He let his skating do his talking and blew people away with his handstand wheelies and one arm handstands." Kelly Lynn

"JIM'S A RAD SKATER, IF YOU LOOK IN THE EARLY ISSUES OF

SKATEBOARDER MAG HE WAS IN EVERY FLA. ARTICLE. I WAS ALWAYS STOKED TO MEET UP WITH JIM AT A SKATE SESSION." MIKE FOLMER

"Jim's a great guy and in his day was absolutely the best

freestyle skater on the planet. Invented a lot of what is considered new school today." Greg Loehr

"Jim was a great skater every time I saw him, he was also

Muttly's hero (along with Scroggs) for a long time. He was definitely a 1st generation Florida skater and a good guy-we had a couple of memorable skate trips together. He's a ripper!" Chris Baucom

Jim McCall had no idols to follow in his quest to become the best at skateboarding. There were simply no well-known Florida experts prior to McCall arriving on the scene. As a more experienced skater and coach, I may have guided Jim along the way, but his youthful and adventurous approach was such that his quick pace in learning new tricks far outpaced mine. McCall set out and explored new realms in skateboarding out of absolute necessity. He won Florida's first pro contest (Junior Men), along with Kelly Lynn (Boys), Dave Smith (Slalom), and myself (Men). During his first trip to California in 1976, the unknown Florida rookie grabbed a lot of attention at the Magic Mountain Masters Invitational where he got 5th Place Pro among legends like Alva, Hackett, Sims, Pineapple, Logan, Torger Johnson, etc. McCall's pro model deck was released by Walker later that year and became the longest continuously running pro model on the market all the way thru 1991 (when Walker discontinued all production). Jim's freestyle model was probably the first production board ever to have its rail curve reduced in order to straighten the sides to near parallel. Jim and teammate Rodney Mullen requested that feature for greater stability during freestyle rail tricks, but it indirectly became the basic straight-sided, Popsicle stick design that has been used for all modern street decks through to current times.

McCall may be known for Freestyle, and rightfully so, however he never limited himself to flatland skating. Before it was even invented, McCall performed perhaps the very first Frontside Airs on a 4 foot high, blue, fiberglass wall in front of a crowd of thousands at the West Palm Beach auditorium in July, 1977. Note that the film Dogtown and Z Boys establishes the Z Crew as developing Frontside Airs in September, 1977. That same year, Jim was one of the early pioneers of Handplants and Inverts along with Floridians Paul Patala, Pat Love, Greg Meischeid, Mark Lake, and Californian Bobby Valdez. McCall helped develop Nose Wheelie 360 Spins and was on the ground floor in the development of so many other maneuvers, too numerous to mention here. He dominated Florida's biggest Pro events at Kona in 1977 and 1978 against a large field of competitors from both East and West Coasts. He did it again at Kona in 1979.

Jim McCall's skating became the early standard in Florida and he was extremely influential in the later development of young skaters like Tim Scroggs and many others. East Coasters finally had somebody to look up to and learn from. McCall was also an early hero to Rodney Mullen, who rode McCall's pro freestyle model deck for nearly 3 years, from 1977 thru the middle of 1980. Ironically, but understandably, by the mid 80's it was Jim who in turn, began to learn from Rodney. In September 1986 Jim helped introduce skateboarding to the masses when he and Christian Hosoi appeared in Sports Illustrated. McCall's impact as a pioneer in skateboarding has been profound.   Jim McCall still rips today and I'm very proud to have skated with him and to be able to call him my friend. Thanks Jim, for your outstanding contributions to our sport and congratulations on your 2002 induction into the Florida Skateboard Hall of Fame. You certainly earned it.
Bruce Walker

Jim was more than a friend, we became brothers and basically were inseparable for a couple of years or more, We went through some really stupid lessons together and had some great times. What I remember most about Jim was his uncanny ability to learn tricks, either freestyle or vert, in about 2 tries !!! I used to get so envious cuz I would bust my ass for about a day or two before I would get anything new down, His balance and ability was so far ahead of anyone else at that time that he was a great person to skate with as he would push you in his own "Jimsie" style ! I have so many memories with Jim it would take weeks to write it all down, but suffice to say I have still been learning from him to this day ! He picked up the Book before I did and became the true apostle that Jesus would have been proud of, I have always looked up to Jim and now I know so many reasons others should look to him too, not just for his abilities, but for the great Person he is today. So for my small part of the Ixora crew I was blessed in more ways than one to have Jim be a big part of my life, I will always love him..... Grace, Peace and Blessing to you all, and to Steve for such a sick site !!

" I skated against Jim in contests a few times. What I remember most is that he was always rock-solid in his performance. He was always strong and solid. He had a set routine and rarely varied from it. Very good at Demos, and any indoor events, he was at every expo and demo I went to. Some of his early contemporaries (Huck Andress, Scroggs, Reggie Barnes et.al.) were into kind of a free-form routine. Except for Huck, whose routine was similar to a three-ring circus. Jim combined strength and balance moves, (handstand stuff)

and technical tricks (360s and wheelies) as well. I know Mutt learned a lot of the process from him, if not the moves. The performers that ended up passing him in the technical areas never matched his variety. He also ripped on banks and vert. He wasn't the fastest in the cross-country or blasting the highest airs, but he was always there in the bowls along with the rest of us (vert boys). It was pretty cool. I remember him being with the Walker crew (Greg Meischied, Glen/Jeff Klugel, Kechele?) at the contests. He skated in the pro contest at Kona I was at in '77ish (the one where Alva, Logan, Hackett, Plumer etc were there) and held his own. I skated against him at a contest at Skateboard City (Daytona Bch) in '75/76. Again in Sarasota (can't recall the parks name). Didn't he skate barefoot for a LONG time?" George McClellan

Jim McCall is rad. I first remember meeting Jim at a demo in Melbourne during the early 80's. He was skating on the side of the Holiday in and he was popping these tremendous ollies on his freestyle board. My friend Vinny and I were stoked and we asked him to help us out with it. He showed us the basics and I started what would turn into a 17 year long journey of utilizing the ollie in my own skating. i will never forget that. Coincidentaly I ended up working with Jim at Ocean Avenue for 2 years as a 16-17 year old skater. Jim would keep everyomne smiling with verbatim quotes from cinematic masterpieces such as Stripes and CaddyShack. After work sometimes we would all session the curbs and flat outside of the warehouse. Those were truly the fun days for me because how often does a young skater get to skate w/Bruce Walker and Jim McCall after work. J.M. Pushed mad limits in all aspects of his skating. I remember him boosting backside ollies at his house in Melbourne. He had this make shift mini ramp, before mini ramps were popular, and he did b/s ollies 3 feet out of a 3 foot ramp, not to mention miller flips and an arsinal of lip tricks. Jim has had an impact on my life as a skater and I was stoked to see him get recognized as a Florida Hall of Fame Inductee. I just want to thank Jim for hanging and skating with me and my friends during the mid '80's, and thanks for helping me with that ollie...i can still do it..."as far as you know". Scooter Newell

Sorry I haven't gotten back sooner. I would like to say this about McCall. He was the man back when me and all the O.C.W. boys where just trying to learn the stuff we saw in the mag. Then Jim came over to where where (Me, Binky, James Caldwell.........and the rest) would have our sessions. And to see someone live, doing the things we only saw in pics was killer! He(Jim)got a big response from all of us there...WE were stoked! Things that followed included a friendship a continued admiration as well. At that time there were people out there (Cal as well as Fla) That seemed untouchable (not nice people) Jim was totally cool! He would stay with you 'till you got the trick correct. Tim Scroggs

"Jim was always a stable influence, very helpful and always positive. He and the whole Walker Team always set a great example when they came to Sensation Basin. In an era when we had the greatest tendencies to vibe and act out he was reserved and friendly to all".

Jim McCall was one of my biggest influences in skateboarding. In the mid to late 70's, he was definitely ahead of his time. Nobody had a better combination of style, footwork, strength moves and spins than J.M. REGGIE BARNES

PP: Jim, let me the first to congratulate you on your induction into the Florida Skater Hall of Fame. Were you surprised to be announced as a charter member?

JM: Thank you very much Paul! Yes, I was very surprised since I've been away from the skate scene so long. That was such a different time and stage of my life, almost as if the "pro skater" Jim McCall was somebody else. When Bruce Walker, Tim Ebaugh and you convinced me to go to the reunion at Kona I felt that part of my life coming back. I wanted to skate again! Once you're a skater, you're a skater for life. Since I've not skated for many years there's been an emptiness, a void in my life and even though I've filled that void with Jesus, skating was always such a big part of my life and an outlet to express myself.

PP: Let's talk about your skateboarding roots. When did you begin skateboarding?

JM: I started skateboarding in 1974, when the first really big wave of skateboarding hit. You could feel it in the air. All of my friends were skating…skateboarding was everywhere! That was the time of the new and improved equipment, no more metal, clay and plastic wheels. Urethane wheels were invented along with dual action (Chicago) trucks, fiberglass, solid and laminated wood boards. Prior to all of that, I think in 1972, I remember my mother buying me a little toy store skateboard, cost about seven bucks. It had plastic wheels which about a month later developed flat spots from me sliding around the corner of my driveway and onto the sidewalk.

PP: You moved to Florida when you were 11 years old. Did you skate at all before that?

JM: In 1969, when I lived in Virginia my dad made a scooter for me and my sister, the handle was weak so we removed it, transforming it into a skateboard, just a rectangular piece of wood with metal roller skate wheels, all you could do was go straight.

PP: Your first sponsorship was with "Thunderroll". How did you get on that team?

JM: It was after I'd won my first contest at "Teen Town" here in Melbourne. I was skating at the Lane Pontiac ditch, Greg Meischeid and Greg Stevens saw me and asked me to join the Thunderroll team.

JM: Since that was before the invention of skateparks, we took to the paved ditches like Lane Pontiac and Turkey Creek or any hills and smooth flat surfaces we could find for freestyle.

PP: Besides receiving free skateboards, what else did "being on the team" involve?

JM: It was basically like being on any "team". We were there to represent their product in contests and demos. You didn't expect much from your sponsors back then, a couple of t-shirts and a free skateboard and you "were doing great"! I remember doing my first demo with Greg Stevens for Thunderroll at the "skating rink" in Melbourne. I skated to "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" by Jim Croce! We also did a demo at the old Melbourne Mall.

PP: I'm certain you were doing handstands before you joined Thunderroll. You beat me and Jarred Lopez in your first contest while riding a "Bahne". Where did you get the idea to do a handstand on a rolling skateboard?

JM: I got that from seeing pictures of Russ Howell, Ty Page and Bruce Logan in the early "Skateboarder" magazines (By the way Paul, thanks for letting me win my first contest, or else I would be interviewing you right now!)

JM: Yeah, Bruce saw me at a few contests. The first one was at Kiwanis Park in Merritt Island. Bruce placed ahead of me in that contest. He was clearly the best skater there, very polished and stylish…..and he was the only one that had precision bearing wheels. The freestyle contest was in an indoor gymnasium and Bruce was just gliding around effortlessly with no noise coming from his wheels. The next contest was at Skatboard City in Port Orange, that's were Bruce asked me to skate for FOX. A week later I went down to Fox Surf Shop on Ocean Avenue in Melbourne Beach. Bruce gave me a fiberglass Fox skateboard with Chicago trucks and Road Rider wheels….with precision bearings! That was the end of "Stokers" and loose ball bearings. They (Bruce and partner Lewis Graves) put that board together for me right then and there, minutes later I was outside skating the bank parking lot next door. I also got stickers and T-shirts, after that I was officially on the team.

PP: Was the Magic Mountain contest your debut as a professional skateboarder? How soon after joining FOX did Magic Mountain happen? Were there any paying contests or demos before that?

JM: I was skating for FOX for several months prior to Magic Mountain. It was a couple of months after the Magic Mountain contest that I turned professional.

PP: What was that first trip to California in 1976 like? Were the Californians receptive to the Florida skaters? (On the way to the Kona reunion you mentioned TA and Stacy Peralta warming up in a real loose practice session at Magic Mountain…)

JM: The Magic Mountain contest at Los Angeles in 1976 was invitation only and Bruce Walker was the only skater originally invited to represent the state of Florida. Bruce gave them my name, saying that I could help represent the state as well. This was when I was fourteen years old and had just placed first in the freestyle competition at the Paved Wave contest in Cocoa. Thirty of the top skaters in the world were invited, most from California. Also representing their states and countries were skateboarders from Japan, Australia, Texas, Hawaii, and of course, Bruce and I from Florida. I could not believe I was actually going to California! In the mid seventies, California seemed so magical and powerful, almost like a dream. It was the Utopia of skateboarding and surfing. Not only was I going to meet skateboarders I had idolized, I was also going to skate against them! This was the first time that a skater from the east coast had ever competed against the mighty Californians, the "legends" of the Skateboarder magazine. So Bruce, Lewis Graves and I flew out to L.A. Warren Bolster from Skateboarder magazine was there and knew who Bruce was, as would most everyone since Bruce had already been featured in Skateboarder. The first night we stayed at skate/surf movie mogul Hal Jepsen's house (Super Session, We Got Surf). We awoke the next morning to thick a blanket of fog covering Hal's house, which was located in a "Rocky Mountain" type landscape. It was very chilly and the fog lent further to that magical, mystical feeling I'd had since arriving. The air seemed to be charged with energy and power. As we left for the contest the chill and fog dissipated with the temperature quickly reaching to near one-hundred degrees. When we finally arrived at Magic Mountain I remember checking out this massive slalom run on a huge hill that curved around with embankments and ending with a 30 foot ramp for skaters to slow down on. I stood at the top of that hill, which was basically a mountainside to me (hence the name, Magic Mountain) watching Tony Alva blaze through the course, straight up to the top of the giant ramp, kickturn and come down. He was the only one doing that. It was awesome watching TA skate, he lived up to everything I'd seen and read in the magazines. Eventually I made it over to the freestyle area where I began practicing my routine. This is when I met Stacy Peralta, who wasn't in the competition but was being filmed for a skate movie. Stacy was definitely one of the nicest California guys I ever met. He had no ego trip and greeted me with a huge smile and a warm handshake. After practice we went back to the hotel, where almost everyone in the contest were skating around in the parking lot. Tony Alva cruised stylishly by and I asked him if I could try his board, that same wooden Logan Earth Ski I'd remember seeing him on in Skateboarder mag. TA took a look at this unknown fourteen year-old kid and said, "Sure, go ahead". We traded boards for a few minutes. What an honor it was to meet Stacy Peralta and ride TA's board! (Tony and Stacy, if you happen to read this, "Thank you so much!") It really meant a lot to me. The next day the contest began and I had huge butterflies in my stomach. Understandable when you consider I was up against superstars of the sport like: Tony Alva, Brad Logan, Torger Johnson, Steve Cathey, Roy Jamieson and Doug "Pineapple" Saladino to name a few. My routine in the preliminaries started and I popped into a handstand, intending to do one of my signature tricks, handstand tic-tacking. I was so nervous my arms froze but eventually I did it. Then came the bullhorn and announcer Tom Padaca, "…He's tic-tacking on his hands! Ladies and gentlemen I've never seen anything like it! Fourteen year-old Jimmy McCall from Florida is tic-tacking on his hands!" I wound up tying Roy Jamieson from Hawaii for second place in the prelims, but slipped up a little in the finals and ended up in fifth place. Still, it was a highly respectable finish among the thirty best in the world and not too bad for the fourteen year-old unknown from Florida. Another quick memory of that trip was buying French fries and a coke on the famous Huntington Beach Pier and watching Lewis Graves shred some really good waves.

JM: I did see some new moves out there but what I learned mostly was the continuity in the routines of the Californians.

PP: Did you feel pressure, like "I've GOT to learn these tricks before the next contest" in order to compete?

JM: I didn't feel pressure because I came so close. But, at the same time I wasn't used to coming in fifth place. When I look back, maybe I do wish I'd felt more pressure. A couple of contests prior to Magic Mountain I had placed second and I was really upset! I was really determined to win, so I skated with that fire inside and won the next contest I was in. That was the Paved Wave contest, it was that pressure I felt which led to the Magic Mountain invitation. If only I had kept that "fire" and feeling of pressure I could have given Rodney (Mullen) a run for his money in the early days. Instead, I moved on to riding vert, surfing, and chasing women. A lot of fun but I didn't ever reach my goal of becoming "World Champion" freestyler.

JM: Well, definitely Magic Mountain was one, also in 1977 at Kona, when I won the Florida Pro freestyle competition. Then again the following year, 1978, at Kona for the United States Open in the pro freestyle competition. After two days, I was in first place, ahead of the Californians and everyone. Unfortunately in the finals I made an error and wound up in a tie for second, which became third when the judges rated me one-one hundredth of a point behind. Californian Dennis Martinez won that contest but I received a nice consolation a few years later on a trip to California. It was 1985, at Del Mar Skate Ranch, during my second tour-of-duty on the skateboarding scene and my first contest in many years. Dennis Martinez walked up to me and said "Dude, you should have won that contest back in '78 at Kona". I was very honored that he said that but the fact remains that Dennis was the better skater on that day and Dennis "you're still the champ!" I went with Barry "SIO" Zaritsky on that trip to California, he trained me and supported me the whole trip. We even stayed at Tony Hawk's house for a week or two! So special thanks to Barry and to Tony and his family for putting us up. Another great memory was in 1986 when Reggie Barnes and I were hired to do skateboard demonstrations for ten days at the Memphis Music Festival. It was an all expenses paid trip and we were also paid very well to skate. Bands played day and night, Country, Pop, Rock, New Wave, Blues…you name it. While in Memphis I had wanted to go to Graceland and hang out with Elvis but he'd already "left the building" and gone to the new "Graceland in the Sky." Belinda Carlisle of the Go-Go's was in the hotel room next to ours and Molly Hatchet was also there. Reggie and I had an awesome time, we were there to have fun and fun we had, skating three times a day, partying and watching bands every night! Reggie reminds me of myself when he skates, we both have that surf/skate style and he was always a tough competitor in every contest. We also saw this local skater there who was just a blazing street skater by the name of Chuck Dinkins. When I got back to Florida I told Bruce about him, shortly thereafter Chuck became a Walker pro! Also, in 1986 I went to the World Championships in Vancouver, Canada, which was also the scene of the World's Fair and people from all around the world were there. Vancouver is such a beautiful place, I would really love to go there again someday. My mother, Florence, traveled there with me to watch me skate, as well as my girlfriend at the time, Cathy. As part of their summer vacation, Cathy's whole family also made the trip from Florida! I skated to the Beatles live version of "Help" and the crowd really got into it. Unfortunately, again I slipped up in the finals and finished way back in tenth place. I was so frustrated and discouraged after that performance; I knew I could've done better. About three weeks later I got a call from a friend I had met in Memphis, she said she had seen my picture in the new magazine. I thought she'd meant my new Walker ad in Thrasher or Transworld. I told her I'd seen that ad and she replied, "No, you're in the new issue of Sports Illustrated!" So I went from extreme disappointment at my tenth place finish to extreme elation at being in Sports Illustrated. Back to 1977 and another demo, at the West Palm Beach Surf and Skate Expo. I was doing skateboard demos there with California stars Mike Weed and Steve Shipp (from the Hobie team). Along with freestyle they had this mini fiberglass bowl, about four feet high with half a foot of vert. I was doing a maneuver I used to do on non-vert banks, where I'd grab my board and catch air with my butt hitting the ramp and pivoting on my other hand. Since this ramp was vert it was shooting me backwards, momentarily weightless. Later, I told Bruce that I felt like I could do that maneuver without putting my hand or butt down. Bruce looked at me like, "How can you do that?" (frontside air had not been invented yet). So Bruce, on the mike, told the audience I was about to attempt a maneuver that had never been done before. I dropped in hit the wall frontside, grabbed my rail, caught air and landed back on the ramp! The crowd went wild when they saw it! I'm sure someone in Cal was doing frontside air on vert, but at that time it had not been in the magazines yet.

JM: Although I didn't get to skate all the original Florida parks, I'd say my favorite was Sensation Basin in Gainesville. The problem was, as with Kona, they were so far away from my home in Melbourne that I rarely got the chance to skate them. All the good parks were spread throughout the state, like the Cadillac Concourse. They had a huge fifteen foot pool and I remember seeing this kid, Alan Gelfand, doing no-hands airs (Ollie's) out of the pool! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw him smack his tail off the lip, go flying out of the pool and come back in. In 1977 at a skate demo in New York I started doing "no-hands aerials", like an aerial lip-slide on non-vert, not comparable with what Alan was doing though. Bruce took a picture of that and it appeared in a Walker ad around the same time. As far as some of the early parks in Florida, I remember the Paved Wave in Cocoa, built like a surf run and also Indian Harbor Beach skatepark, also built like a surf run. I skated IHB the most since it was the closest park to my house. Some of the locals there were Mark and Tim Lake, Guy Hoffman, Greg Meischeid, Lonnie Reiter and Casey Chimelinski. That's where I saw the Mark Lake flip for the first time. Of course, the best parks I ever skated were the California parks. Big O, DelMar, Oasis, The Runway, Paramount, Lakewood and Marina Del Ray.

JM: The first ditch I ever skated was Lane Pontiac in 1975. That one was really fun because it had a sidewalk to roll in and out on. It was packed every night with surfer vans. A few others were Turkey Creek, Grandview shores and the SR528 ditch in Cocoa. I skated many different ramps over the years, here are a few that come to mind: Tim Comellas, Tony Crofts, Bruce Walkers, The Lakes half-pipe, Tim Ebaughs, Bolt Billingsleys, Casey Chimelinskis half-pipe, Mark Isleys ramp and many, many others. The Pine Grove mini-ramp in the woods was really fun, Chuck Dinkins and Brad Baxter both blazed that ramp. Last but not least was my backyard ramp, the last one I built at my house in 1979 while I still lived at home. Every day after school we turned it into a skatepark, blaring Molly Hatchet through the back window, giving it the nickname "Gator Country". It had a takeoff ramp leading into an eight-foot wall with a foot of vert and real pool coping on top. Not only did all my friends (like you Paul) skate there but even Chris Baucom came down from Gainesville to skate. I remember him ripping some killer Ollie's on that ramp! Eventually we had to tear it down, as it was in violation of city codes…"the no-fun law". Some of the area pools we skated were Jeff Burgess' small kidney with no coping and Evie Whites larger kidney with "square" coping.

PP: What maneuver was the hardest in your routine? Which one was the hardest to learn on vert?

JM: In the 70's I 'd say a one-handed handstand. In the 80's, since I'd been out of skating for a few years, it was a whole new experience. I had to learn a whole new breed of skating, people were bouncing around on their boards like they were pogo sticks. In order to compete I had to learn all that stuff. The hardest trick to master in my routine then were the pogo varieties, handstand pogos and handstand kick-flips. On vert, not killing myself on reentry was probably the hardest. I don't know if any certain maneuver was the hardest but my favorite was the Miller Flip.

JM: I've skated everything during my career. Freestyle is a completely different style of skating as compared to vert, it's like night and day. I've always been known as a professional freestyler, and it's what I was best at but it's hard to say which is my favorite.

JM: In the seventies it was Greg Weaver for the classic surf/skate style, Stacy Peralta for style continuity, and motivation, Tony Alva for style, radness, and attitude, Russ Howell for handstands and Bruce Logan for nose wheelies. When I returned to skateboarding in 1984, I was most influenced by Rodney Mullen. Rodney is to freestyle as is Tony Hawk to vert. He is the Michael Jordan or the Elvis Presley of freestyle skating, one of those people that comes along only once in a lifetime. It was a real honor to be teammates with Rodney years ago. We've all been truly blessed watching him skate!

PP: Your signature model is the best selling Walker Pro model ever. What do you think about the new board designs? Do you miss any of the "old style" of boards?

JM: The new designs are really cool, street boards today are like big freestyle boards that you can ride ramps with or do flatland tricks as well. You get the best of both worlds. I don't really miss the old style boards, what really matters is a functional board design. I do still skate around on my old boards from time to time.

PP: What would you say is most beneficial for young skaters to know about skateboarding?

JM: Watch others skate, but be yourself. Never give up on a trick, because you will learn it. You might need practice and patience, but that's what makes a champion. Focus not just on the maneuver, but style with the maneuver. Follow your dreams, because nothing is impossible! When you become great, humble yourself and you will be exalted.

PP: Jim, it's been a pleasure. The trip to Kona was the first time in a while that you and I were able to talk about skating in general, old ramps, and sessions of yesterday. Is there anything you would like to add or comment on?

JM: Yes, first of all I'd like to thank Father God in Jesus' mighty name for my life and my skate career. I would like to thank my Mom and Dad, my mother, Florence, has been the biggest part of my life, she has always been there for me in every way, supporting me in my skating and life itself. Thank you Mom! My father, Herbert (Herbie), was always supportive of my skating. He wanted two things before he left this earth; one was a Cadillac and the other was a log cabin. He got the Cadillac and I know he has an awesome log cabin in the Kingdom of Heaven! I would like to thank Bruce Walker for all that he has done for me! Bruce really helped my skate career, had it not been for him I would not have gone to California, or been in the magazines. Bruce Walker is a huge credit to the world of skateboarding! He is more than a sponsor, more than a friend, to me Bruce Walker is family! I also want to thank Steve Marinak for doing this profile on me and for my induction into the FloridaSkater Hall of Fame! Steve, you're website is truly making a difference in people's lives! And to Tim Scroggs for the introduction speech he gave for me at the awards ceremony. I met Tim in Orlando in 1976 and he was already ripping freestyle. Every time I saw him he just got that much better and I'm really glad he was also inducted into the Hall. Tim, you really deserved it! I would also like to thank Paul Patala and Tim Ebaugh for doing this profile. Many skaters don't realize but Paul was doing inverts about a year before they were shown in the magazines. We called them "Patala Pop-outs". Tim blazed with style on every terrain he skated, including his ramp and mine. As well as launching frontside and backside air, you would always see Tim floating across the coping with awesome layback grinds. I grew up skating with Paul and Tim as well as other close friends Wes Aho, Brent Morgan, Tracy Steadman, Ken Campbell and Greg Meischeid. Greg was a teammate that always pushed the limits of radicalness whenever he skated. Other Walker teammates I would like to acknowledge are Mike King, Joe Ayers, Michael Gutierrez, Shawn Peddie, Pat Clark, Mark Wilson, Tim Morris, Tony Graham, Jacky Grayson, and Glen and Jeff Klugel, as well as friends Kenny Guerrero, Jeff Hartzel, Harold Milton, Tim Comela, Derek Hoskins, Joe Langella, Mike Davis, Billy Holt, Ken Middlebrook and Gary Billingsley as "The Bolt".

There is a special friend and teammate of mine I would like to acknowledge, his name is Ken Middlebrook. The year was 1984 during my return to competitive skateboarding. Ken had just won first place in the amateur freestyle event at Kona. I knew by watching Ken skate that he was on a rapid pace to becoming a professional and a definite future freestyle threat. That year, in December, Ken and his girlfriend were involved in a car crash on their way to Orlando, a head on collision. Ken's girlfriend was thrown from the car and suffered a broken leg. Ken was not so lucky. When the Highway Patrol and paramedics arrived on the scene they feared that Ken was already dead, his body crushed under the twisted metal. Rescue workers finally cut Ken from wreckage, found he was still alive and he was taken to an Orlando hospital by emergency helicopter. That same day, a friend of mine was also driving to Orlando. She told me she'd seen the wreckage from "a horrible car accident" on the way. She said she thought it was a skaters car due to the skateboard stickers all over it. "Whoever it was," she said, "they're dead, there's no way anyone could have lived through that accident." Neither of us had any idea that it was Ken Middlebrook. The fact that he was even alive was a miracle. Ken was in a coma for months, I went to see him in the hospital and did not even recognize him. His head was shaved with tubes running down his throat. His entire left side had been crushed, head, arm, hip, leg, even his heart and lung. His eyes were open but they called it a "light sleep." He did not know what was going on and could not speak. He had his Vans skateboard shoes on in the hospital bed. I kept telling him he needed to get better so that we could go skateboarding again. Later that day, his mom told me that Ken responded more to me than anyone else that had come to see him. A couple of months later I received a phone call from Ken's family. Ken had come out of his coma and was talking again! I believe it really helped him to have friends and family coming in constantly to see and talk to him. The reason Ken came out of that coma was through non-stop prayers from his parents, family, and friends as well as many different church congregations. In Ken's case God showed us that prayers are answered and sometimes you need a mountain of prayers in order to move that mountain. Ken eventually came home from the hospital in a wheelchair, with the doctors saying he would never walk again. Ken did not accept that. One Sunday, Ken and his family came to the Tabernacle church here in Melbourne. Benny Hinn was the visiting pastor that day and he prayed for Ken, telling him that yes, he would walk again one day. Today, not only can Ken Middlebrook walk, but he also skates! He has a beautiful wife and son (Kenny Jr.) and they both skateboard on a regular basis! The prophecy of God through Benny Hinn came true! Jesus is the same healing Jesus yesterday, today and forever! My final words to everyone is this: Get to know Jesus your own way before leaving this earth, and while you're here skate, surf and snowboard as much as possible! And thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this interview.