Skateboards and Broken Ribs

As a child of the 80's and the 2nd big skateboard wave, the 60's and 70's Dogtown kids being the first, i was introduced to skateboarding rather quickly.People like Tony Hawk, and Powel Peralta were putting out boards that they "said" was the best and we ate them up. Every new board that came out, every new thing that came out, we wanted it. All of my friends talked about the latest boards, trucks(the thing the wheels go on), and grip tape. We made designs with our grip tape featuring the new "skater" bands we loved and listened to nonstop as we skated and practiced every move we could think of. Then we'd grab the newest issue of Skater magazine and we would see one of the big guys of the day pulling of something we never knew possible. A rail slide, a truck slide, a rail grab off the top of a large set of stairs. Could we as kids really defy gravity like that? Yes we could, and we did. My whole skating career came to a halt in the summer of 1989 right before high-school and, fittingly the end of the decade.

Some friends and I came up with a great idea to build a half pipe in Steve's back yard. There was a construction site that had been deserted for some reason. The reasons were not needed for us. the only thing we knew was that there was a lot of scrap wood and nails around for us to use and play with. We grabbed our boards and backpacks. We loaded ourselves up with everything we could possibly find to help us create the coolest half pipe ever. It was 8am, and we were skating with 8 12 foot pieces of plywood over out heads, 2 backpacks full of wood, and another one full of nails and various screws and tools we scrounged up. When we got to Steve's house, we found that his dog had a dog house that he never used. Not only was it in our way, it was also more wood and nails we could use. By the time 5 pm came about we had a 7 foot half pipe sitting in the back yard.

When you climbed to the top, it moved and swayed. My best friend decided he needed to try it first. He dropped into the ramp, and the bottom of the opposite side rose and the 6 of us on the other side were sure the whole things was going to flip over. But when he hit the other side of the pipe, it slammed into the ground and he planted his feet on the other side, and we cheered. It was official, we had a working half pipe and we were our heroes in a days time. We spent the next few hours riding the pipe, falling, scraping up knees and elbows, and loving every second of it. Rich dropped in and hit the lip of the other side, drug his rail and ripped up the board on the other side. He spun and went down the ramp and came up on the other side but lost his balance and fell back down the ramp on his head. He loss consciousness for a second, and we all ran down to see if he was ok. He was fine, but the blood showed us all that this was more dangerous than we realized. We all laughed as the sun almost was gone. Steve's backyard flood lights began coming on, and we were stoked that we could continue skating.

I decided this was the time to pull out all of the stops. I was going to fly. I dropped into the ramp, hit the lip, went back down the ramp, and then hit the lip I just dropped into. I needed the speed to accomplish what I was going to do. I had told everyone what was going to happen and everyone yelled and cheered me on. I got the bottom of the pipe and straightened my legs to pull the board up the ramp. The speed of the board hit the ramp, and I crouched to keep the speed going. I hit the lip of the ramp and leaned back slightly, and alleying off the lip. I went straight up, and I watched my friends' heads pass my board. I turned my body and things went wrong. I didn't turn fast enough, and the momentum was wrong, or maybe I just lost focus. Either way, the board fell off my right foot. I leaned forward to grab it, and the world spun, and then there was pain, and black.

Per my friends this is how it happened: I hit the lip of the ramp. I flew straight up but I put my head way too far down and didn't turn at all. I started to loose control, and the board flew off and onto Steve's roof. I spun a total of two times in a horizontal windmill fashion and feel straight down. I landed on my ribs right on the lip of the pipe. Then flipped over my head as it slammed into the pipe, and my whole body fell over and followed. By this time I was a rag doll, and I flipped over again and hit my head once again. I came to a stop at the bottom of the pipe. I had a splinter 6 inches into my arm, 5 broken ribs, 2 broken fingers, and a very real concussion. I didn't fully realize consciousness till the next day. I woke up and passed out multiple times in the next 12 hours, but only remember waking up the next day. My board cracked in half, and I decided that I didn't need another one.