Paul Dunn's Turner story
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 7:56 pm
Copied from Facebook post by Paul Andrew Dunn January 30, 2023.
Long post coming up, so here goes…
I have reached and inflection point in my life and, since just turning 62, I think it’s time to let go of some of the items that are gathering dust in the deepest recesses of my closet.
So, yes, I will be selling some of my Turner boards and clothing in the coming weeks so that they might find new life for someone who’s “fast twitch” muscles are still intact.
But first, a story:
NOTE: Having written this, I realize there are MANY stories behind the “Rise of Turner 2002” since I was shoulder-to-shoulder with Howard Gordon during that year. So maybe this whole thing will turn into a longer string of stories.
*****
On a Friday night in April of 2002 I was driving my wife’s car up to the 1st FCR “Battle by the Bay” race – not really knowing what the weekend would bring. Some months earlier a great man named Howard Gordon had the keen idea to resurrect the Turner brand since there was growing interest with regard to slalom skateboarding. Would I be interested in helping develop new boards and designs for the “New Turner?”
I was all in. Howard only lived 15 miles away and I suspected that with his energy, technical skill and business acumen, there was a good chance Turner could have a strong presence this slalom renaissance.
Howard had made contact with Bobby Turner (BT) some months earlier, after he had watched the 2001 Morro Bay “Worlds” where my friend Gary Cross took the top spot. Howard was the father of two bright, energetic kids, Dylan Lucas Gordon and Lauren Gordon. As a group, we, along with Mike Maysey, Terri Brown-Benko and occasional drop-ins from Jack Smith, had been skating our local hills trying all kinds of different iterations on the new Turner prototypes that Howard and BT were working on.
The general thought was that the hand-made fiberglass boards that BT had made in the past were too expensive to make and market for the “new-to-slalom” skater, so Howard convinced BT (with some protest) to go in with a dual-pronged approach: custom sleds for the higher echelon and stock-ish boards for the newbies, weekenders, etc.
So here I am, jamming up the 101 with Van Halen’s “Women and Children first” CD pumping at full volume as I get my ass jacked for the race. I must have played and re-played “Everybody Wants Some!!” at least 20 times from Paso Robles to Gilroy.
The FCR guys (Don O’Shei, John Krisik and Jack Smith) put together an amazing show: scaffolding, barriers, banners, cone girls, etc. It was like it SHOULD be: pumping music, play-by-play, drama, racing. It WAS happening.
The first GS day was awesome. It was a single-lane best time event. Us Turner guys did well. Afterwards, we took some team Turner pics at a loading dock, then we all laughed and hung out with the Comet crew (N-Men Gary Cross and Charlie Ransom). Next day was the hybrid event. Howard wanted me to ride a new-style “Hybrid” Turner that had just came out of the mold. I didn’t have a lot of practice time on the new stick so I went with my vintage “Balckbird” that BT made for me in 1989 in exchange for me giving him a 1977 yellow “needle-nose” that I bought from Surf n Wear that year.
So it was on. The hybrid runs went down well for us. The final four were set. After that, my memory is gone… I called Bobby Turner to tell him the good news: that Mike and I were in the final four and for sure one of us would podium. Peggy answered the phone. Before she could say anything I barked out something like “we are IN Peggy! Podium for sure!”
I thought she would hand the phone over to BT. Oddly, she simply replied “That’s great! Bobby just died!”
I was in shock. I said “Whaddya mean he died???”
Peggy: “He had a heart attack. Happened about an hour ago.”
All I remember after that was climbing up the scaffolding where jack was calling the event and telling him what I had just heard. Jack didn’t know what to do… we just kind of had an awkward man-hug and I climbed back down the scaffolding to the pavement.
Jack sucked it up and announced to the racers and to the crowd the news. A total somber pall fell over that sloped parking lot. That was it, we thought. No more Turner.
To be continued ...
Long post coming up, so here goes…
I have reached and inflection point in my life and, since just turning 62, I think it’s time to let go of some of the items that are gathering dust in the deepest recesses of my closet.
So, yes, I will be selling some of my Turner boards and clothing in the coming weeks so that they might find new life for someone who’s “fast twitch” muscles are still intact.
But first, a story:
NOTE: Having written this, I realize there are MANY stories behind the “Rise of Turner 2002” since I was shoulder-to-shoulder with Howard Gordon during that year. So maybe this whole thing will turn into a longer string of stories.
*****
On a Friday night in April of 2002 I was driving my wife’s car up to the 1st FCR “Battle by the Bay” race – not really knowing what the weekend would bring. Some months earlier a great man named Howard Gordon had the keen idea to resurrect the Turner brand since there was growing interest with regard to slalom skateboarding. Would I be interested in helping develop new boards and designs for the “New Turner?”
I was all in. Howard only lived 15 miles away and I suspected that with his energy, technical skill and business acumen, there was a good chance Turner could have a strong presence this slalom renaissance.
Howard had made contact with Bobby Turner (BT) some months earlier, after he had watched the 2001 Morro Bay “Worlds” where my friend Gary Cross took the top spot. Howard was the father of two bright, energetic kids, Dylan Lucas Gordon and Lauren Gordon. As a group, we, along with Mike Maysey, Terri Brown-Benko and occasional drop-ins from Jack Smith, had been skating our local hills trying all kinds of different iterations on the new Turner prototypes that Howard and BT were working on.
The general thought was that the hand-made fiberglass boards that BT had made in the past were too expensive to make and market for the “new-to-slalom” skater, so Howard convinced BT (with some protest) to go in with a dual-pronged approach: custom sleds for the higher echelon and stock-ish boards for the newbies, weekenders, etc.
So here I am, jamming up the 101 with Van Halen’s “Women and Children first” CD pumping at full volume as I get my ass jacked for the race. I must have played and re-played “Everybody Wants Some!!” at least 20 times from Paso Robles to Gilroy.
The FCR guys (Don O’Shei, John Krisik and Jack Smith) put together an amazing show: scaffolding, barriers, banners, cone girls, etc. It was like it SHOULD be: pumping music, play-by-play, drama, racing. It WAS happening.
The first GS day was awesome. It was a single-lane best time event. Us Turner guys did well. Afterwards, we took some team Turner pics at a loading dock, then we all laughed and hung out with the Comet crew (N-Men Gary Cross and Charlie Ransom). Next day was the hybrid event. Howard wanted me to ride a new-style “Hybrid” Turner that had just came out of the mold. I didn’t have a lot of practice time on the new stick so I went with my vintage “Balckbird” that BT made for me in 1989 in exchange for me giving him a 1977 yellow “needle-nose” that I bought from Surf n Wear that year.
So it was on. The hybrid runs went down well for us. The final four were set. After that, my memory is gone… I called Bobby Turner to tell him the good news: that Mike and I were in the final four and for sure one of us would podium. Peggy answered the phone. Before she could say anything I barked out something like “we are IN Peggy! Podium for sure!”
I thought she would hand the phone over to BT. Oddly, she simply replied “That’s great! Bobby just died!”
I was in shock. I said “Whaddya mean he died???”
Peggy: “He had a heart attack. Happened about an hour ago.”
All I remember after that was climbing up the scaffolding where jack was calling the event and telling him what I had just heard. Jack didn’t know what to do… we just kind of had an awkward man-hug and I climbed back down the scaffolding to the pavement.
Jack sucked it up and announced to the racers and to the crowd the news. A total somber pall fell over that sloped parking lot. That was it, we thought. No more Turner.
To be continued ...