The history of slalom skateboarding

[Jani Soderhall]

I was recently asked to provide a short story about the history of slalom skateboarding. I need your help as I haven't got the details of the earliest slalom attempts, the events in the 70's etc. I have a good understanding of slalom skateboarding in the 80's and 90's but that is not enough.

Anybody volunteers to help me? John Gilmour, you're excellent at writing articles. Could you create a draft that we could debate here before settling on an acceptable version?

The final version should be pretty short, but let's get the details correct before we shorten it to a public version that can be printed in a contest program, a slalom brochure or elsewhere.

/Jani

[Anthony Smallwood]

Hey Jani,

I have a postcard from 1965 advertising slalom cones, and it states they were the official cone provider for the 1965 Slalom Championships. I'm sure they we're riding clay wheels and it probably doesn't count for "modern" slalom though. Still, it must be recognized. I'll send you the image. Good luck!

[John Gilmour]

Why not?

[Jani Soderhall]

Anthony,

It'll be great to see what you have from 1965. I didn't believe that slalom was actually done in an organized way back then. I'd love to include that illustration in the history text we're writing.

/Jani

[Wesley Tucker]

I didn't believe that slalom was actually done in an organized way back then.

/Jani

Jani,

1965 was the World Skateboard Championships that aired on ABC's WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS all across the country. It featured slalom on an inclined plywood "hill" that had cones spaced about 8 feet apart and offset something like four feet off the center line. If you didn't know better, you'd swear you were watching the 1975 Bahne Nationals. The only difference is none of the competitors in 1965 worried with pads, gloves or even shoes! There were, though, a few helmets even back then.

The coolest part about watching it now is the finish line was also the bottom of the ramp that ended in dirt. You finished, ran your board into sand and then ran it off or fell down HARD. Imagine riding loose ball bearings on clay wheels into soft top soil after every run. What a way to run a railroad!

There is a DVD of this floating around. Deb Gordon had it at Folly Beach in 2002 and that's where I saw the replay. It's really cool in a black and white Kinescope. What was even more fun was listening to Chaput and Deb do their "where are they now" routine for just about every 12 year old kid on the show. Seems that drugs, death and pornography was a large part of what happened to most of these kids who skated in 1965.

[Hans Koraeus]

Underground rumours says that Juice Magazine are working on some historical slalom articles. There are a new mag in the workings. Will it show up in that number?

Having read a lot of interviews in the last 10 or so numbers of Juice Magazine you get some bits of early skateboard and slalom history as well. It's mainly because of Stacy's "Z-boys and Dogtown" film. Steve Olson would be a good choice to empty on the 70's slalom scene. Henry Hester, John Hutson and Bob Skoldberg too I imagine. When going back to the 60's, who is left to tell the story? When did Russ Howell start skating?

[Andy Bittner]

Cliff Coleman was riding for Hobie during the mid-60s and probably has some recollection of the state of slalom skateboarding during that decade.

The people who should comment on 70s slalom, in my opinion, are Hester, Skoldberg, Hutson and/or any of the Badlands racers, i.e. Ransom, Evans, or Kimbel.

Although I'd imagine he must've done it during the 70s, I have no recollection of Steve Olson being known as a slalom skater at all back then, unless, of course, you include banked slalom.

[Hans Koraeus]

<Center>
A peek at our slalom history


Bahne-Cadillac Nationals/Skateboard Championships
April 26-27 1975
The Slalom Ramp at Del Mar Fairgrounds

Here the ramp is not just a start ramp but pratically the whole course is set on the ramp.
Try that with todays start ramps.

</Center>

[Jack Smith]

My first race...Bahne-Cadillac Nationals April 1975.

We saw an ad in Surfer Magazine for the Del Mar Ocean Festival, part of the event was the Nationals. The ad listed slalom and freestyle, we knew what slalom was, didn't have a clue about freestyle. We thought that you might roll down a hill doing surf style moves.

We practiced slalom for a couple of weeks before the race, using milk crates as cones. Had no idea what the course would be like, heck we didn't even know that would have to build an artificial hill. Right before we left for the race, Roller Sports sent me a box of 24 precision bearing Stokers...for FREE. My friends refused to believe that anyone would send a skater free wheels. Sponsorship wasn't in our vocabulary yet.

We left for the race on a Friday evening, in my friend's 1969 Firebird, the same vehicle would be used as a support vehicle for the first skate across America the following summer. We stayed with some friends in LA on Friday night, got up real early Saturday and drove to the Del Mar Fairgrounds. We mada a breakfast stop at the Denny's next to the fairgrounds. As we were eating I noticed these scruffy looking "skate rats" come walking in wearing their Zephyr t-shirts. At the time, the only Zephyr I knew of was a hang glider company, so I didn’t pay much attention to them. However, later that day I watched these "skate rats" change the course of skateboarding. It is not often that one actually gets to witness history in the making.

I remember sitting at the racer's meeting and thinking, "Man, I would hate to be the first guy down that ramp". Guess who's number got called? You were given two qualifying runs around the "nailed down" cones. When qualifying times were posted later that day I had managed to make it into the head to head racing the next day. I quickly found a phone and called my dad to give him the news...I think that was the day he realized just how important skateboarding was to me, he and my mom have supported me throughout my entire skateboarding career.

The organizers changed the course for the finals, after a few practice runs I was quickly dispatched by Don Andre in the first round. An interesting aside, John Krisik also was in the head to finals, on the other side of the bracket, I didn't find this out until 2002 when I was looking through some photos that my Bahne partner Stan had sent me, one was a shot of the bracketing, and there was John's name.

Sometimes, it's almost hard to believe that it's been almost 30 years since that day at Del Mar. There is no way I could have ever imagined that someday I would meet Bill and Bob Bahne 27 years later and bring back Bahne Skateboards. When Bill and his family came to our house to do the deal, part of my brain was doing the business thing, the other part was going, "whoa, that's Bill Bahne sitting there".

Over the years I have become friends with Stacy Peralta, he even came to Morro Bay once on the 70's, knocked on my door unannounced and said that he had heard I knew where all the pools were. I was blown away, as were my friends when I showed up at our legal pool with Stacy in tow. Flash forward to 2001, my boss sends me to the Sundance Film Festival to check out "Dogtown and Z-Boys". Upon arrival I'm told the screening is sold out, I ask the gal if she knows where Stacy is, she sends me to another room. As I make my across the parking lot, I hear Stacy calling my name and asking me what I was doing in Park City, was I there to snowboard he asks. Nope, here to see your film, but they tell me it's sold out...he says come with me, hooks me up with tickets and says to hoot as he is worried the non-skate crowd might not get it. I do, they do...the rest is history.

So many great things have happened in my life, because in 1964 my dad built me my first skateboard and told me to surf the sidewalk.

Time passages.

[RL]

Jack, what a wonderful story of your entry in slalom skating. Thanks very much for sharing that with us. And look what FCR has done to bring slalom skating back to us all.
Thanks to your dad and that homemade skateboard back in 64, also.

Ric

[Jack Quarantillo]

kudos on the story, Jack...

I had some Stokers on my first board...

It is interesting to hear the story of "those Zephyr kids" from the other side of the coin.

Q

[Jani Soderhall]

Thank's Jack!

It's stories like this one of yours that gives this site it's real value. Keep 'em coming! There must be plenty in your and others repertoire. We'd love to hear them all!

/Jani

[Hans Koraeus]

<Center>
A peek at our slalom history


Skateboard Magazine - 1975 Handbook
Stacy Peralta
Where? You tell me.

Stacy, the man himself. Or should I say the boy himself here maybe. Yes, he was a boy too once.
Look at that board. That's another way to angle your trucks. No "Rad pads" on the market yet.
Jack, maybe this could trigger another nostalgic story.
</Center>

[Jani Soderhall]

Here's an amazing postcard from the private collections of Anthony Smallwood with proof of slalom racing at the 1965 US National Skateboard Championships.




Make sure you don't miss the proposals of disciplines:

- Slalom
- Giant Slalom
- Skateboard Bowling
- Thread the Needle
- Shoot the Pier

I wish I knew what more than two of those were all about!

Thank's Anthony! That's a true collectors item.

[Andy Bittner]

Holy smokes!!! That has got to be THE ultimate slalom skateboarding collectible! Awesome. Bravo, Anthony. I mean... I've got some pretty serious slalom collectibles (hand-sanded test castings of the original Gullwings hangers and some other pre-production Gullwing experiments among other things), but the very fact that Tony's postcard even exists is news to me, and like nothing from that era I've ever seen before.

Anthony... I know you're up on printed collectibles. What might it take for a man to own a postcard like that?

[Anthony Smallwood]

Glad you guys enjoy the postcard. Everyone in my circle of poster dealers is aware of my passion for board riding and they always look out for me. This card came from a little old lady at a poster show who picked it up at an antique shop enroute. She said "Oh, I have something for you" and pulled it out of her purse. I proceeded to hit the floor and walk on clouds at the same time. Definitely a rare, if not unique item. I also have a Skateboarder Magazine poster from 1964 that's pretty cool.
Andy, the items are family heirlooms and aren't for sale, however, I can let you make duplicates, in the condition that "Skateboard Bowling" will be included in this years Gathering.

Happy New Year everyone!! Ride fast and fun in 2004

[Jack Quarantillo]

in the condition that "Skateboard Bowling" will be included in this years Gathering.

Would slides be illegal? If not, I can see Dillon on his Ed Economy racking a strike every time...

Q

[Andy Bittner]

Isn't it funny how different people interpret differently?

Let's take Skateboard Bowling as an example. I think we can all envision the ten cones, set up in a ten-pin triangle, but Jack sees the game as riding or sliding through them, while I envisioned something completely different. As soon as I saw the term Skateboard Bowling, I immediately envisioned a game of standing behind a line at a given distance and kicking or shoving the board toward the "rack" of cones.

What's interesting is that Anthony's postcard from the past, and the notion of Skateboard Bowling (at least as I'd envisioned it) presents a very interesting activity for keeping smaller children engaged in the slalom skateboarding community, even before they might've developed the motor skills to actually ride or race.

Of course, I have the next Gathering in mind, when I consider that all the supplies are present to run such a game, and that it could possibly serve as a sort of slalom/daycare entertainment. It'd be easy enough to do down on the big curve at the lower end of The Gathering site.

Anyway... as a matter of Gathering planning or an issue for the future of slalom skateboarding, all of this now probably belongs on another forum.

Thanks again, Anthony, for showing us the card. I didn't expect that you'd part with it, but was curious what value you'd give it/them, if another came along?

[Anthony Smallwood]

Ha! It's taken 40 years for "Skateboard Bowling" to finally be recognized as a serious discipline. It seems you can teach an old dog new tricks, or is it an old trick for new dogs??
For me, I react the same way towards skate ephemera as most of you guys do towards the old gear. I don't care how old or valuable an old board is, if I find it, I'll ride it. I can't envision any skateboard as a pure trophy that must remain on the wall, but the posters however, I treat like the Declaration of Independence. My goal is to acquire as many skateboard racing posters and related items from 1960's to the present as possible. So. if anyone has any items they want to sell or trade for, contact me.
(I have a vintage poster gallery with 100's of posters 1900-1975) Since the collection is ultimately going to the Library of Congress, I'll even pay for copies. The LoC has an important and extensive collection of early baseball memorabilia that can be accessed by any American citizen. I believe our history is equally as important and is worthy of such placement.


My # is 202-607-1495. I missed a Capitola Classic poster on ebay a few years ago. Went out of town and forgot all about it. It sold for $35, which was a steal. The letter "C" was rendered as a crescent moon. A very nice piece which has haunted me ever since. Can anyone make the nightmares end?

I can't wait for.........skateboard bowling

[Anthony Smallwood]

I just found another interesting slalom image from 1965. The May 14th issue of Life magazine has a cover shot and inside feature on the "craze and menace of skateboards"
Included is a story on the east's first intercollegiate skateboard championship held at Wesleyan U. in Middletown, Conn. with a photo of a slalom course. I'll send the scan to Jani and maybe he'll post it.

Interesting side note: That's the issue that was on the stands the day I was born. My mom must have been holding me and reading it at the same time. My influences came very early!

[John Gilmour]

I've given the history of slalom skateboarding some thought. I've wanted to write a book on the history of slalom skateboarding. What has occurred to me was that we have had a strange sort of evolution of the sport.

What is the strangest thing about slalom skateboarding is how pockets of slalom existed (exist) and evolved very much separately from one another. There are separate histories. There was some interaction at contests- but for the most part slalom styles and even the entire concept of what is SLALOM SKATEBOARDING has evolved in small pockets of activity often with no interaction. Stranger still- the areas where slalom skateboarding had the most interest in terms of sheer numbers of slalom decks sold, has had the least coverage- namely the skaters behind the former Iron curtain.

For many people the only connection slalomers had with one another in Media was Skateboarder Magazine and even then only a few in depth articles.

The other thing that struck me was that the way courses were described was very different- and some people would actually measure the cone to cone distances- and other would merely eyeball the distances.

It struck me that Pitch was very differently portrayed in photos as we did not have an agreed upon way to describe pitch outside of surveyors terminology, so some hills appeared flat in photos- though they were quite steep.

I think writing a History of slalom will require a group effort. I don't think any single individual should attempt to tell the whole story.

IMHO the story has to be told regionally with the influences upon what formed that particular region's notion of what is skateboard slalom.

- So I certainly will work on doing a Story of Slalom History in New England- including the contests New Englanders attended and any influence they had on our New England Scene.
- I would hope for instance that Mark McCree would write something on Florida's history.
- Claude Regnier would handle Canada.
- Fluitt and Brewington, Kosick would handle the ARA days with Gary focusing on the current Colorado scene.
- GBJ and Brian Parsons could do the DC scene.
- Gary Holl, and Gary Cross could do the N boys stuff.
- Gareth Roe and Stephen King could do the Seattle scene.
- Hans, Jani, Par could cover Sweden.
- Gianluca Fererro could do Italy's history- Vlad has already helped to document it.
- Max Bimler, Chris Eggers and Atilla Azodi could do Germany's story.
- Dieter, and José and Jean-Paul could cover France.
- Simon Levene, Martin Sweeney, Floyd Reid, Martin Drayton, Michael Stride, Cling Film and others could cover the UK's history though much seems to be well documented already. Even in England there appears to be a slalom split.
- Gints G. with the assistance of Ilva Skaraine could do Latvia.

- In some areas I would hope that people with perhaps differing views would submit info and try to debate over what transpired. In Southern California I think Ed Economy, Dennis Shufeldt, Tommy Ryan, Henry Hester, Bob Skoldberg, Danny Trailer (where is that guy?), Stacy Peralta, Vince Turner, and others should try and give a representation of what happened in the La Costa days. I can tell what was told to me by Bob Turner.

I do think this needs to be a group effort. I think Vlad has a good handle on the history and could do a good job on the overall picture.

What I would like to see incorporated is a sort of time line that is standardized. (we'll never see it) So we could line the time lines up and see how things were developing at similar times. What I found was when slalom died in one area left over gear was "liquidated" to another area where slalom would begin again. I was in the basement of the largest East Coast Ski retailer in the 80's watching hundreds of fibreflex decks, slalom wheels and trucks get liquidated to Europe.

It helps to see the different points of view. In reading history it really seems to help to read historical accounts from both sides. Thankfully it is a short history.

[Jani Soderhall]

I just found another interesting slalom image from 1965. The May 14th issue of Life magazine has a cover shot and inside feature on the "craze and menace of skateboards"
Included is a story on the east's first intercollegiate skateboard championship held at Wesleyan U. in Middletown, Conn. with a photo of a slalom course.

Here it is. Yet another valuable collectors item from the early days of slalom racing.

Life Magazine, May 14th, 1965.

[Jani Soderhall]

John,

You're probably right. If we make this a joint effort everybody's version will be more accurate. Trying to put it all together as "one history" might create a more one-sided view. Now that differences in opinion and point of view turns into something much more interesting and people will recognize one part as being close to their own history, while at the same being able to read about how slalom evolved in other areas.

Great idea! How do we take the next step?

/Jani

[Hans Koraeus]

How come there is a copyright for Anthony on pictures from life magazine?

[Anthony Smallwood]

yeah man, their lawyers have already contacted me. Thanks alot Jani, now I'll get stripped of everything I own. Ha!