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Saturday, December 31, 2011

New York Skate Stories: #3 My Brother Bob

My brother Bob, fuckin' ripped on a skatboard so hard. For those of you not familiar with skateboard lingo, Fuckin' Ripped means skateboarding on terrain extremely aggressive, with great skill, and precision. Most of the tricks he did back in the 80's are still rad and difficult today. 

He was genetically built for it.
He was the most physically fit from elementary school into high school. In 6th grade during physical fitness tests, he was called down on the loudspeaker to do the physical fitness test along with Jamie Van Dunk in front of a all the gym teachers. Jamie was an african american who got left back once or twice. He was super man back then, and so was my brother. I think the only thing Jamie beat him in was the long jump.

Bob did the most sit ups, and pull-ups and sprinted the fastest. 
In baseball he was an amazing pitcher and could hit home runs out of the park both righty and (switch) lefty. I never hit one out ever.

So anyway he was pretty much physically built to conquer.
When my parents separated, my dad got a job in California.
So the next summer we went to visit him as we did all following summers. He lived in Torrance and bought us skateboards so we could keep up with him when he jogged the Redondo Beach bike path after work everyday. The skateboards were wood with fast soft wheels.

Bob had the skate with the blue wheels, mine red.
The first day we skated following my dad jogging, Bob could skate standing up.
I think he was nine and I seven. I'll never forget pushing along on my knee and looking up at him astonished and blown away at how he could skate standing up and I only on my knee.

Little did I know he would continue to astonish, and not only me.

He built an ollie box on our driveway and kept piling more and more wood on it until it became a four and a half foot quarter pipe, the first quarter pipe in our neighborhood.

Bob was the first person on the block to learn how to ollie, kick-flip, do hand plants, and go off street ramps big. While most of the kids on the block were simply going off the street ramp without slamming, Bob was doing big Method Air tweaks, the raddest most tweaked out Japan Airs (where his back leg was almost straight) Judos and maybe even 360's and 360 Judo's


He was master of the Ho Ho Plant which is where you put your board onto your feet while going into a hand stand, and walk around on your hands while tweaking out your legs in different positions.

We used to go to skate demos in Westwood New Jersey, not only did we get to see the best skaters in the world come though town (Rodney Mullen, Jesse Martinez, Mark Gonzales, Natas) all the best skaters in the tri-state area would show up and skate before and after the demo.

The only reason our neighborhood crew got to meet to the best skaters at the event was because Bob impressed.

One of the best skaters out of  Jersey by the name of Brian Blake was there and watched Bob try to rail slide a hand rail right after Gonz tried it during a demo, I'm sure Bob was doing other things that stood out... all I remember was that Brian kept saying BOB! BOB! BOB!

Anyway this led to befriending most of the best skaters in the Jersey Area. Brian Blake, Charlie Butterly two influential skaters in the history of East Coast Skateboarding. Brian being one of the best amateur street skaters in the world at the time, and Charlie starting his own company and sponsored skaters who would later be the most influential east coast skaters in skate history to date.

Anyway my brother Bob's skills opened the door to meeting the most talented skaters in the area who would quickly become our friends.

Possibly the first to ollie slide a hand rail from the east coast?
Any one out there to prove me wrong? The only one I can think of is I don't know.

Master of frontside and backside wall rides off flat ground.
He could do frontside wall ride mute grabs off flat.
Ses Slides on ramp to wall on the coursest concrete walls to flat.

Not just bomb drop off ledges. Which means hold onto your board from standing position and jump onto your board off a ledge.
Bob would run off the back of a Semi Truck and do Saran Wraps,
which is when you jump into the air with your board in one hand and pass it in between you legs to your other hand and then land on it.
He would do this in one swift stylish (effortless) motion and land so solid.

He would ride off the back of semi trucks and do what he called Helicopters, where he would ride off straight towards the ledge, put his front hand down on the lip of the drop in front of his board, grab indy, and whip a 360 off the nose and land so solid.

One of the raddest momemts in my memory was when there was a demo with Mark Gonzales, Natas Kaupas, and Mike Vallely, at Westwood, New Jersey. These were the 3 best street skaters in the world at the time. They brought a street ramp and were just dorking around and not skating their hardest.  The best punk rock legendary NYC  skate team riders of Shut Skates got bored and wanted to show them up, so they crashed their demo and started skating the ramp to show off their skills. Doing things off the street ramp like big ollie japan tweaks, big 360 Judos, Troy with his 360 varials. Bob quickly got in there and blasted his BIG 360 METHOD to INDY NOSEBONE. He would switch his grab at 270 degrees from Backside grab  to Indy grab , and tweak a nosebone and he did it so high and covering big distance.

Other skaters quickly jumped in after and it turned into a free for all pandemonium skate session, but none were going as big and high as the Gonz, Mike Vallely, the Shut Riders, or Bob.

My last radical memory was when I watched Bob after easily frontside and backside rail sliding the Paramus Ditch hand rail, was Bob trying to ollie grind the rail before ever seeing it in magazine.

Moments like the ones mentioned make my Brother Bob a Skate Legend to me.
He now lives in Lafayette, Colorado where he opened his own restaurant called Eats and Sweets with his beautiful wife and two kids.
I love you Bro.
-Manny

6 comments:

  1. Okay, I have to add a little something here about the Westwood demo. Manny, your being a little modest about the Shut Crew muscling in at the demo. I remember you being the first to infringe that ramp. It actually was the highest method grab I've ever seen. Really the highest air off a launch ramp period ever. Valleys Christ Air Finger Flips were wicked but when you hit that ramp, you defied the laws of gravity. I literally fell to my back screaming in awe when you did that. In fact you triggered a 100 yard cipher of skaters to scream like girls. I'm pretty sure thats when the Police responded. And when I met you in New City weeks after that demo and realized that you were the kid who did that at the demo, I thought a God descended. That mini baby blue Lance Mountain was a rocket. You my friend are cut from the same mold. To this day you are fit to shred. Miss you terribly from New York!!!

    Love You,
    Joe Maffei

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  2. Thanks for the moment bro. You're right Joey, Manny's ollie airs were ridiculously high and smoovvvve.

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  3. Brian Blake was super good I wonder whatever happened to him. I haven't heard the name Charlie Butterly in years. I use to love to skate to bad I caught the New Jersey curse (bad heroin habit) in the early 90's

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    1. Some clips of him from some local NJ spots just got uploaded to Youtube. Its crazy how ahead of his time he was.

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  4. Charlie still is doing Nimbus... he rocks... haven't seen Brian Blake in over 30 years... hope he is well.

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    1. Charlie is still running Nibmus. Boards are in a lot of N. East shops. He has some rad riders too. Manny, glad I saw this blog. Many days and nights with you and Suffern crew (Russ, Jim and Matt) in the Ridgewood parking lot etc.. Good looking bro!

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