What is that frequency today where you think, hey, you know, this is where I'm a maverick?

Well, first and foremost, skateboarding, but more so the promotion of skateboarding in a global sense.

And for me, just truly sharing my experiences, because I do you know, I get I get to be in very rare.

I get very rare opportunities.

And I am fully aware of that, you know, traveling and the people I get to meet and things like that.

And I want to share that.

I don't take it for granted.

What legacy do you want to leave with all this philanthropic immense project that you took on, this great work? What legacy does Tony Hawk want to leave?

Two, two different people can watch it and get... and both enjoy it, but at two totally different levels.

Yeah, and, and I didn't really expect it to resonate with non-skaters.

I knew it was a fun game, 'cause I had played video games my whole life.

But I also knew that it was niche, and skateboarding was still kind of more alternative, and, and whatever you wanna say.

But I will say that, uh, I got lucky in...

I mean, I got lucky in all kinds of ways, but, but one way was I had just done a couple of big marketing campaigns, promotions for brands that, that I believe in, but, but their campaign was cheesy in terms of how it represented skateboarding.

Because they wanted...

Can you tell us the, the origin story of it, and what was, like, the peak in terms of how big it was, and was it ever even good, even at its peak?

A, you're, you're tall.

Uh, you know what? Well, i- in my day, like, skating kind of had a, a, a bubble of, um, popularity in the late '80s, but n- it didn't, it never really was that big there.

And all through the '90s and even 2000s, it just, it, it wasn't popular, and it wasn't until this Olympic inclusion that suddenly a few Japanese skaters started stepping up.

Oh, my God

...

in London.

We were doing Bones Brigade demo, just one of those raw, you know, we're skating whatever old skate park there was.

And, um, [clears throat] we're riding around and this kid comes up to me and he's like, "Hey, I wanna see if, i- if you guys would, would come over for dinner to my house later." I was like, "What?" [laughs] You know what I mean? It's such a random and direct invite.

I always bring my

skateboard.

Where's your skateboard, Tony? In the car.

Yeah.

Do you want to go get it? If you want me to.

Bonnie,

Another word that they

only say.

Uh, was there a moment when you told your parents, "Hey, I'm gonna be a professional skateboarder", and if so, what was their reaction to it?

it?Uh, well luckily that, my parents were supportive.

In fact, my dad drove me to that event, so, um, I had their support.

I think the, the, the time where it was actually, um, a decision to be made is when I was graduating high school, and my parents were very, uh, very strong about education.

All my siblings had gone to college.

And when I told them that I just wanted to chase skateboarding, they said, "Well, maybe you should go to take some classes at community college as well." And by that time, I was touring the world.

Um, I got a, I got an offer for a movie part for Gleaming the Cube.

Tony, how much of skateboarding's explosion in popularity do you attribute to people discovering the video game series?

Uh, was there a moment when you told your parents, "Hey, I'm gonna be a professional skateboarder," and if so, what was their reaction to it?

Uh, well luckily, that, my parents were supportive.

In fact, my dad drove me to that event, so, um, I had their support.

I think the, the, the time where it was actually, um, a decision to be made is when I was graduating high school, and my parents were very, uh, very strong about education.

All my siblings had gone to college, and when I told them that I just wanted to chase skateboarding, they said, "Well, maybe you should go to take some classes at community college as well." And by that time, I was touring the world, um, I got a, I got an offer for a movie part for Gleaming the Cube.

In fact, Gleaming the Cube saved me from college.

Tony, how much of skateboarding's explosion in popularity do you attribute to people discovering the video game series?

Um, I, I, I've definitely heard people say that they got into skateboarding because of the game.

I- in what ways?

Um, well, definitely, uh, uh, it's taught me about self-confidence because you...

It's up to you to make something happen.

It's up to you to create that next move or to accomplish whatever you have in mind.

It's not because your coach told you to do it, or made you practice at this time or, or, uh, you know, said that your, your team is not gonna win if you don't perform like this.

It's more like you, you have to take it upon yourself, and you have to perform.

You have to do it because you truly want to, and you, you b- have to believe in your skills to do it.

This is where you get, like, locked in the hotel room and the guy with the busted arm or s-

I just, I wanted to do that.

Yeah, there's a whole generation of skaters that started because of that.

There was sort of a perfect storm of X Games started getting popular.

Like I said, our video game created a fan base for skating that didn't necessarily skate, but was interested in it.

And then all of a sudden, it was just sort of...

It was just front and center.

I'm thankful to see it come of age.

Right? Are you making some sort of a...

Somewhere in there, you became-

That does...

I mean, yeah, I never was comfortable with that, that idea, that moniker, because it just, it, I wasn't...

I, I never felt cool, you know? And, and I always felt like an outsider.

Even in skateboarding.

When I found skateboarding and I found this thing that I love, that I wanna focus on, the way that I did it was uncool.

So I, I'm in this...

... before that

[gurgling]

[laughs] So, so [laughs] I, I get on there and I go, and I'm s- just standing at his table, so I go, the worst question, "What would you do to me?" And he, like, slowly looks at me like- Oh, no ...

Robocop.

Boo, boo, boo.

I go, "No, no, no." And he goes, "Well..." [laughs] And I go, "No." And he goes, "Listen, here's-" He's got a lot of bolt points ...

if you want just the top nine things that are, like- [laughs] ... no-brainers.

I was gonna say.

Okay.

Right.

And so we just announced the game and some of the roster.

Bam obviously wasn't on that list.

And Bam came to skate my ramp the next day.

He didn't even know that the announcement had happened yet.

And he and I did a doubles thing.

I could just tell, like, the excitement for Bam skating again, the, the love, the, you know, the, the people were missing him.

Yes.

Mm-hmm

... um, new tricks, new challenges.

N- I'm so excited.

I, I'd like...

I, I can't believe we've kept it under wraps as long as we have-

That's so cool

...

it, it's, it's i- in terms of fans of the series, it's been really hard to keep them at bay.

Mm-hmm.

So I, I kinda, you know...

I went- I lived through the lean years.

I did what I could to make ends meet, and then X Games came around.

Uh, you know, we had our video game, um, a lot of success.

We did a huge tour.

That's when I'm in my early 30s, and I was riding that wave, and, and it felt kind of surreal, but also, I was so fixated on, on the actual skating, that I kinda lost sight of relationships, like personal relationships, truly.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

Because you just don't know what's gonna happen, especially a helmet.

Um, and I think it's more you gotta get comfortable with the motion of it.

A lot of kids get into it, and they wanna, they wanna do kickflips, and they wanna do big rails and jumps.

And they don't have any foundational skills to get there.

And that's when you start getting hurt.

So, I think it's more getting really comfortable on the board, being stable, learning how to turn, learning how to push properly, learning the cadence of, of skateparks, because y- s-... you know, if you don't...

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

And I had two homes.

I had one with these giant ramps set up, and suddenly I found myself, my income kinda dropping by half every month because it was all royalty-based and people just weren't buying my skateboards or, you know, my shoe sponsor was like, "Oh, we gotta cut your salary again." We just cut it last month.

Okay.

And so I just did whatever I could to make ends meet.

I, um, at one point I, I had a really basic editing system, which no one had.

This is probably '92, 93-ish, so people didn't really have that kind of stuff, so I just was getting odd jobs, um, editing stuff [laughs] on 3/4 tape.

What life skills does skateboarding build that you can't learn in a classroom?

Mm-hmm.

So, I, I kinda, you know, I went, I lived through the lean years.

I did what I could to make ends meet.

And then X Games came around, uh, you know, we had our video game, um, a lot of success.

We did a huge tour.

That's when I'm in my early 30s.

And I was riding that wave and, and it felt kinda surreal, but also I was so fixated on, on the actual skating that I kinda lost sight of relationships.

Mm-hmm.