Today is the birthday of skateboarding legend Rodney Mullen, born on this day in 1966!
Mullen, to those of you perhaps not in the know, is hailed as the Godfather of Street Skating, a title he is more than deserving of given the massive contributions he has made to the sport. Almost every trick in the book you can name can be attributed to Mullen's handy footwork, including the flatground ollie, kickflip, heelflip, and 360-flip - his best trick by far though is the Godzilla rail flip, just due to how fuckin' rad the name is.
Mullen first picked up a skateboard at the age of ten, when a neighbour lent him his board, and from there he was hooked. It took some tough persuasion with his dad to let him have one, but under the agreement he wear protective gear, practise in the garage, and would quit if he ever got an injury, Mullen began to hone his craft.
With just a year of skating experience under his belt, Mullen came fifth in the US Open Champions in the Freestyle category in 1978, which led to his first sponsorship with Walker Skateboards. By the dawn of the 80s Mullen had gone professional and was enlisted into the Bones Brigade. Whilst with Bones, Mullen won 34 of the 35 freestyle skating competitions he entered, losing out only one to a fellow Bones skater, Per Welinder.
Mullen was also enlisted to other high profile skate companies, those being World Industries and Plan B, however in 1997 he conceived his very own skate group, The A-Team. It was during this time Rodney begun to see more mainstream recognition, especially after his inclusion in the Tony Hawk Pro-Skater series, a roster that held the who's who of skateboarders at the time, including such skate legends as Shrek and Spiderman.
These are all highly notable radical achievements, yet even without them Mullen would still be classed a rad dude simply down to his ethos and personality. He's one of the hardest working skaters going, which led to the countless tricks he invented which shaped skateboarding as we know it. Best of all though Mullen is so chill about his achievements, stating in interviews his invention of the flatground ollie is "not a big deal", and that real credit should go to Alan Gelfand for the creation of the very first ollie, though this was not executed from the ground.
Mullen also completely destroys the stereotype of a skateboarder being a washed up bum who's internal thinking never surpasses going "whoa dude", as he is quite possibly one of the most deep and intelligent figures working on the scene today. In fact, Mullen has contributed to the technology of skating, with his work under the Almost brand seeing him develop new designs including Impact Support, Double Impact, and Uber Light, all of which are designed to keep skaters skating for much longer and with greater ease. Beyond this, Mullen is also a veteran speaker, appearing at a number of high profile venues to discuss his life, his work, and the skateboarding community.
Rodney Mullen, you have yourself a killer birthday, dude.
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