More Skate History

While researching old board shapes for my Small School prototype, I came upon this old tracker ad featuring Torger Johnson. I was struck by the grace and style of this nose wheelie. (pic is from CalStreets.com)

While there is some footage of Torger when he was a little guy, back in the very very early days of skateboarding before the urethane wheel, I don’t think I’ve ever seen any footage from this part of his skate career in the 1970s. Bummer. Torger died in the 1980s in a car accident. I read a quote by Tony Alva regarding Torger’s induction into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame. Tony was very complimentary of Johnson’s style and ability, and noted him as a heavy influence.

There’s just so much great skateboarding from those early days that most of us will never get to see.

Here’s a page about him on the Logan Earth Ski website — including that letter by Tony Alva. Check out some of these pics — seriously – downhill nose wheelies at high speed. Rad!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.