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Rodney Mullen

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John Rodney Mullen (born August 17 1966 in Gainesville, Florida) is a professional skateboarder, and considered to be the most influential skater in the history of the sport [1]. He is credited with inventing many tricks introduced throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, including the flat-ground Kickflip, the Heelflip, the 360 flip, and the Impossible which are regularly performed in modern street, freestyle, and vertical skateboarding.

Early career - the 1970s and 1980s

Rodney Mullen began skateboarding on January 1 1977[2] when he received his first board, at the age of 10. After nine months, Mullen gained the sponsorship of Inland Surf Shop, and placed first in the first contest he entered at Kona in Jacksonville, FL, in the Boy's Freestyle event. Immediately he was noticed by Bruce Walker[3], and became sponsored by Walker Skateboards.

Over the next three years he went on to take nearly 30 victories, which had been achieved mostly in Florida, culminated in a win at the Oceanside Nationals in June, 1979. Coached by Barry Zaritsky, Mullen endured a radical training regime, which lead to his defeat of world champion Steve Rocco at the Oasis Pro in 1980. He turned professional with legendary skate company Powell Peralta Bones Brigade.

In early 1989, Mullen left Powell Peralta and became a partner in World Industries with Steve Rocco, as well as maintaining his professional status as a rider for the company. By the end of the freestyle competition era in 1990, Rodney had won 34 of 35 freestyle competitions he’d entered over the previous 10 years. This is the most successful run in skateboard competition history

Later career - the 1990s to present day

His tenure at World Industries marked the beginning of a shift in his skating career from freestyle to street skating. He left the World Industries team to join Plan B, a super team made up of the some of the highest profile pros of that time. Throughout this period Mullen was urged by Plan B founder, Mike Ternasky, to adapt his freestyle skating to street. This approach was first seen in the 1992 Plan B video Questionable, and ushered in a new era of street skating that took freestyle tricks which were traditionally done without rolling, or at slow speeds in a confined flat area, to a more varied terrain, often at speed and incorporating obstacles.

After the death of Ternasky in a car accident, Mullen started the A-Team in 1995. It was his take on forming a super team with the defection of Plan B from the World Industries empire. A-Team folded in 2000 and Mullen went from company founder to company rider under former A-Team rider Marc Johnson, who started Enjoi Skateboards. Mullen left Enjoi and headed Almost Skateboards along with Daewon Song, which he continues to maintain professional status. Mullen expanded his product development and created Tensor truck in 2000 [1] and has also developed experimental and composite deck constructions for Dwindle brands.[2]]

In 2002 the World Industries companies, under the holding name Kubic Marketing, were bought out by Globe International for $46 million. Kubic's management remained intact and Mullen began working for Globe International under the Dwindle Distribution brand.[3].

2004 saw the announcement by Dwindle that it has been producing skateboard decks in China under the direction of Mullen. A Dwindle spokesperson explained that the move was “to better control our current product quality and develop new advanced products. All this, while simultaneously lowering the price on existing skate-deck products.” [4]

Mullen also penned an autobiography in 2004 with the help of Sean Mortimer, entitled The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself.

Mullen has continued to skate street, and the tricks he pioneered, like the kickflip, heelflip, 360 flip,and flat ground ollie, once considered technical and difficult, are now considered basic tricks. Rodney, however, continues to invent his own tricks like the underflip variations and darkslide variations.

Selected videography

  • Powell Peralta: Skateboarding in the '80s (1982)
  • Powell Peralta: The Bones Brigade Video Show (1984)
  • Powell Peralta: Future-Primitive (1985)
  • Powell Peralta: The Search for Animal Chin (1986)
  • Powell Peralta: Public Domain (1988)
  • World Industries: Rubbish Heap (1989)
  • Plan B: Questionable (1992)
  • Plan B: Virtual Reality (1993)
  • Plan B: Second Hand Smoke (1994)
  • Plan B: The Revolution (1997)
  • World Industries: Rodney Mullen versus Daewon Song (1997)
  • World Industries: Round 2: Rodney Mullen versus Daewon Song (1999)
  • Globe Shoes: Opinion (2001)
  • Almost Skateboards: Round Three (2004)
  • Globe Shoes: United by Fate, Vol. (TBA 2007)

Appearances in Modern Culture

  • Rodney Mullen has Appeared in almost all of the popular Tony Hawk Pro Skater games

including THPS 2,3,4 Tony Hawk's Underground, Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, and Tony Hawk's Project 8

References

  1. ^ Weyland, J (2002) The Answer is Never: A Skateboarder's History of the World Arrow, London. p276. ISBN 0-09-943186-6
  2. ^ Rodney Mullen Biography at Skate America
  3. ^ Walker, Bruce. Rodney's sponsor and coach from 1977 to 1980. Bruce Walker profile

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