Geoffrey Joseph Rowley Jr. (born 6 June 1976) is an English professional skateboarder, former co-owner of
Flip Skateboards
Flip Skateboards is a United States-based international skateboard company, co-owned by Jeremy Fox and Ian Deacon. The company produces skateboard hard goods (decks, wheels, bearings, completes, and hardware), soft goods (T-shirts, tops, sweats ...
and owner of the Civilware Service Corporation.
He received ''
Thrasher Magazine
''Thrasher'' is a skateboarding magazine founded in January 1981 by Eric Swenson and Fausto Vitello. The publication consists primarily of skateboard- and music-related articles, photography, interviews and skatepark reviews.
The magazine also ...
'' "Skater of the Year" award in 2000.
Early life
Rowley started skateboarding around 1989 in his home city of
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
. He would skate for the course of entire days, while his friends would only skate for relatively short periods.
In an interview for the UK magazine, ''rad'', Rowley stated that he first became interested in skateboarding because "A lot of people in my school were into skating and I became interested through them." In the same interview, Rowley explained that his parents were both supportive of his skating, although his father was "not into me sitting around the house all day." At the time of the interview, Rowley was sponsored by Gullwing, Siesta,
Airwalk, and Jeremy.
In a 2013 interview, Rowley provided further insight into his adolescence, explaining that skateboarding culture was not accepted during his time in Liverpool and it was during the 1980s that the culture became prominent in the city. However, even following the rise in prominence, skateboarding products were difficult to purchase:
The only place that actually sold skateboards in Liverpool at that time was a record shop. It was called Probe Records. When I went in there for the first time they had two boards on the wall, a Skull Skates "Dead Guys" and a Toxic team model. I think they had two sets of wheels and two sets of trucks. They had no griptape and one set of bolts. That was my first memory of going into a skateshop aughs I rode my first complete with no griptape for a month or so until Probe got some grip back in stock.
Career
Flip
Rowley's first sponsor was Deathbox Skateboards,
a company that was later renamed "Flip Skateboards"—at this time, Rowley was also riding for Gullwing. In a "Check Out" segment for the ''Transworld Skateboarding'' magazine, Deathbox founder, Jeremy Fox, wrote:
Technical, burly, stylish, quiet, punker, street urchin: these are the descriptions that neatly fit young Geoff Rowley ... He doesn't care about music or anything outside of skateboarding. Although Geoff is from Liverpool (home of the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
, by the way) and looks like a rough kid, he is actually one of the least attitude-infested skaters out there today. Geoff is starting to send out 'waves' across Europe, and when Deathbox ships him over to the US, these waves will certainly come over with him.
In 1994, Rowley moved to
Huntington Beach
Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 during the 2020 census, maki ...
, California, United States with fellow Flip team riders,
Tom Penny
Tom Penny (born 13 April 1977) is a professional skateboarder from Dorchester, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom (UK). As of January 2013, Penny is sponsored by the Flip skateboard deck brand and his Cheech & Chong signature deck is one of the ...
,
Rune Glifberg
Rune Glifberg (born 7 October 1974), nicknamed "The Danish Destroyer", is a Danish professional skateboarder. He is one of three skaters to have competed at every X Games. He has a total of 12 X Games medals. At 46, he became the oldest skateboa ...
and Andy Scott. In 2012, Rowley reflected upon the company's move to the US:
We were a totally new company moving to a foreign country, and, ah, I don't we kind of expected it to go "boom", and just fly right in. We had no expectations; we didn't really know that many people, and we actually just wanted to skate, really. Because we grew up dreaming of living in California and getting to wake up every day and go out and skate without it raining. Ah, and I think that was something that, like, all of the guys, when we first moved here, you know, Rune lifbergand Tom enny that was something that, you couldn't hold us back in that respect. I'd just turned eighteen, Tom was seventeen, ah, neither of us had lived away from home, you know. We'd moved to a foreign country where we didn't know anybody. Nobody. Ah, we had no money, we didn't have any cars, ah, alls we had was the board that we had; we couldn't go breaking those. we couldn't afford to, at the time, starting a company, we couldn't afford to run through ten boards a month ... Like myself, personally, I skated a lot with Ed empleton like, every day, because he lived, like, right across the road from me.
After two weeks in California, Rowley was featured on the cover of ''TransWorld Skateboard magazine''—he subsequently decided to relocate to the American state. In regards to his first ''TransWorld'' cover, Rowley explained in 2012:
I'd been in the States for, like, two weeks, and I was at TransWorld—we'd been to visit TransWorld for the first time. And Swift just wanted to go shoot—he needed to shoot a Gullwing ruck company He said, "You ride for Gullwing, right?" I'm like, "Yeah, I think so ... I got free trucks through the distributor in Britain ... I mean, do I ride for them? I don't, I don't know." "Do you wanna go skate?" And I went skating with them, and then they put it on the cover of the mag. It didn't make any sense to me ... like, at all. It still doesn't make any sense to me; I just went skating with them and then it's on the cover of the mag. I remember gettin' it and thinking, "What just happened? What? That's weird."
Rowley later explained the full extent of Templeton's influence during his early years in the US and stated, "I'll be forever in debt to him" due to Templeton's openness towards Rowley, as the two discovered that they shared the same interests. Rowley explained: "I got on really well with him straight away. As soon as we started talking it was really obvious we'd be good friends. We were into similar music and were from a similar generation."
In an August 2013 interview for
Tony Hawk
Anthony Frank Hawk (born May 12, 1968), nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first documen ...
's RIDE YouTube channel, Rowley revealed that he was arrested during the filming for the 2009 Flip video ''Extremely Sorry''. At the time of the incident, Rowley successfully executed a trick between two rooftops while accompanied by a friend and the owners of the property chose to press charges. Rowley spent around nine hours in jail and paid approximately US$20,000 bail for his friend's release—although the video footage of the rooftop trick was confiscated by the police, the trick remains a part of the video that was publicly released (Rowley did not explain how Flip managed to retain the footage for the final edit in either the RIDE channel interview or any other interviews).
Rowley was revealed as an announcer for the Street League Skateboarding (SLS) Super Crown World Championship event on 22 August 2013. The championship event was held in
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, US on 25 August 2013 and featured the competitors who had qualified during the 2013 SLS season. Rowley received an invitation to compete in the series when it was launched in 2010, but he eventually declined the offer due to a competing offer by the Maloof Company responsible for the Maloof Money Cup events—
Nyjah Huston
Nyjah Imani Huston (born November 30, 1994) is an American professional skateboarder. With numerous sponsorships and competition prize winnings, Huston is one of the highest paid skateboarders in the world. Huston won gold medals at the SLS Supe ...
replaced Rowley's position. In his pre-championship interview, Rowley predicted that
Paul Rodriguez,
Chris Cole, Huston, or Luan Oliveira would emerge from the event victorious.
In October 2015 Geoff Rowley left Flip.
Vans
Rowley has produced a signature line of shoes with
Vans footwear
Vans is an American manufacturer of skate shoe, skateboarding shoes and related apparel, established in Anaheim, California, and owned by VF Corporation. The company also sponsors surfing, surf, snowboarding, BMX, and motocross teams. From 1996 ...
since 1999, the year when his first vulcanised shoe model was produced. Rowley is credited with re-introducing the vulcanised skate shoe, whereby a new generation of skate shoes were designed with the benefits and functional superiority of the vulcanised process. In 1999, Rowley performed a "fifty-fifty" grind on the Staples Center's "hubba" ledge, in Los Angeles, US, for his first Vans advertisement; the photographic image led to a significant level of recognition due to the vulcanised shoes that he is wearing in the photograph – at that time, the predominant trend in skate shoe construction consisted of large, bulky designs.
The Vans website has written of the innovation:
At the time when Geoff hit Staples no one was skating low-cut, thin vulc shoes. No one had felt their board in nearly half a decade. Shoes at the time were so disgusting and bulky we try not to think about them. But when Geoff shot that ad, doing the gnarliest trick on the biggest hubba, showing people it wasn't about creating a bulletproof space shoe for the year 3000 that would last for six months but rather the priority is and always should be about board-feel everyone took a long, hard look at their feet and wondered, 'What the f@#k are we wearing?' History was rewritten that day, by this man.
As of 2012, Rowley was working on a video project for Vans and he explained in an August 2013 interview that the video will represent a team of grateful Vans riders returning the support provided by the shoe brand thus far.
In November 2013, an updated version of Rowley's signature shoe model, called the "Rowley Pro Lite", was released along with a video advertisement containing the tagline "The Original ... Only Lighter" – a reference to the original model that was released in 1999.
Trick invention
A skateboard trick is named after Rowley: the "Rowley-Darkslide". It is a variation of a darkslide in which the trailing foot is placed on the inside of the truck for the duration of the slide.
Sponsors
As of 2021, Rowley rides for his own Free Dome Skateboards company, and is sponsored by Vans, Independent, and Mob Grip.
Management
Alongside sponsored skateboarders,
David González, Louis Lopez,
Arto Saari
Arto Saari (born November 9, 1981) is a Finnish professional skateboarder and photographer.
Early life
Saari was born in Seinäjoki, Finland. His mother was supportive of his skateboarding and his first skateboard was a Vision Gator model.
Ska ...
, Curren Caples and
Erik Ellington
Erik Ellington (born August 9, 1977) is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and designer.
Early life
Erik Ellington was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, to Rose Ann Ellington and Charles Luther Ellington. His parents separat ...
, Rowley is a client of management company RPRT. RPRT was founded by Matt Meyerson, is managed by Ken Perkins, and is described as "a hybrid agency whose core competencies include film/tv production, talent/athlete management, event production (they currently produce Expose NY, a twice yearly fashion showcase during NY Fashion Week geared towards the media and stylists) and brand consulting."
Skateboarding influences
Rowley's early influences were professional skateboarders,
Natas Kaupas
Natas Kaupas (born March 23, 1969) is an American former professional skateboarder. He grew up in South Santa Monica, California, in the area known as Dogtown, and is of Lithuanian descent. He is often referred to as one of the first true profe ...
, Kris Markovich and
Danny Way
Danny Way (born April 15, 1974) is an American professional skateboarder, company owner and rallycross driver who has been awarded ''Thrasher'' magazine's "Skater of the Year" award twice. He is known for extreme stunts, such as jumping into a ...
.
In regards to Way, Rowley has explained:
Danny was the first guy that I saw in videos that was really small, really short, and he was doing alley-oop twists, on vert, over channels—and he was thirteen years-old. You know? And I was around the same age, and I saw that and I went, "Wow, you can do that! I wanna do that." I don't know. So Danny's been an influence that far back for me, and, still now, he's incredible.
Despite maintaining pride in his British roots, Rowley has identified the US as the home of skateboarding, explaining in 2012, "... it's the area where it was born, you know? Everywhere needs a heart and this is the heart of skateboarding." In terms of inspiration, Rowley has identified his friends and skateboard videos, both old and new.
In a 2013 interview, Rowley spoke further about the influence of Kaupas, specifically in relation to the "pushing of creative boundaries". Rowley then made a connection with progression in skateboarding, elaborating further on creativity:
He aupaswas doing what he thought was weird. He was pushing his creative boundaries. I think people get so stuck in the way to be ... Street skating to me is different every single day you go out. I'll intentionally go out and skate the same obstacle the opposite way I did the day before ... I think there was a trend in skateboarding for a little while to master the tricks forwards, backwards and every which way: catch them all high, catch them all the same. When you do that, you homogenise form. That gets a little too controlling and creatively confining long term for me, and I think a lot of people feel the same way.
Influence
In December 2011, ''Transworld Skateboarding'' named Rowley as the twenty-sixth most influential skateboarder of all time.
Following the release of the list, Rowley stated:
I think my generation—myself, Jamie ">homas Reynolds">ndrewReynolds—we're the first street guys to ride these real big obstacles on a daily basis. It wasn't like we do it once for a video. I think we all group up skating like that. I think that's what sets us apart I suppose. The willingness to f—kin' try anything every day.
Awards
In the year 2000, Rowley was awarded the ''Thrasher Magazine'' coveted "Skater of the Year" award.
In response to Rowley's receipt of the award, teammate and close friend,
Rune Glifberg
Rune Glifberg (born 7 October 1974), nicknamed "The Danish Destroyer", is a Danish professional skateboarder. He is one of three skaters to have competed at every X Games. He has a total of 12 X Games medals. At 46, he became the oldest skateboa ...
, stated: "Geoff and Arto
aari Aari or AARI may refer to:
* Aari (actor) (born 1985), Indian Tamil film actor
* Aari language, an Omotic language
*Aari people
Aari or Ari are a tribal Omotic people indigenous to Omo Valley of Ethiopia. According to 2007 census there are 289 ...
are just some of the gnarliest skateboarders that I have ever witnessed. Geoff is just like, he's like, "I'm gonna do this and fuck it if I kill myself; I am just gonna do it. I don't care." Saari stated, "He's a madman, he's a right madman ... he basically tells everyone to fucking shut the fuck up and then rolls back and comes full blast towards you, and then he fucking pulls it, somehow, it's like ...". In Rowley's post-award interview, he is shown holding a poster that reads:
"Get Busy Livin' Or get Busy Dyin'".
Video games
Rowley has been a featured skateboarder in the ''
Vans Skate & Slam'' mobile game. He has appeared in several games in the
''Tony Hawk'' video game franchise. He appeared in ''
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater'', released as ''Tony Hawk's Skateboarding'' in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Europe, is a skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It was released for the PlayStation o ...
'' in 1999 and the next several games throughout 2003's ''
Tony Hawk's Underground
''Tony Hawk's Underground'' is a skateboarding video game and the fifth entry in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series after '' Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4''. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision in 2003 for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, ...
''. He also appeared in ''
Tony Hawk: Shred'' and as a downloadable skater for ''
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD
''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD'' is a skateboarding video game in the ''Tony Hawk's (series), Tony Hawk's'' series. Developed by Robomodo and published by Activision, ''Pro Skater HD'' is a high-definition remake of classic levels from ''Tony Hawk' ...
''. He returned to the series in 2020 for ''
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2
Tony may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer
* Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...
''.
Company owner and entrepreneur
In addition to his co-ownership of the Flip skateboard company, Rowley launched a new business venture in mid-2013 called "Civilware Service Corporation". Rowley explained that the brand is "just a creative outlet for me, for stuff that I'm interested in ... We are making coffee, axes and variety of other oddities to begin with. Hopefully guns at some point, then it would get really fun
aughs"
As of November 2013, the Civilware website features products such as the "Civilware Pathfinder Axe", apparel, a service tin (with coffee beans) and coffee beans. The philosophy of the brand is published as: "When you ask for a person's attention – their time, their money – you need to return that gesture with an unparalleled level of commitment."
In 2019, Rowley launched his own skateboard company, Free Dome Skateboards.
Personal life
Rowley is a father and resides in
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
, US. In 2013, Rowley identified his five favourite locations in Long Beach: Cherry Park, Hamilton Skatepark, LB Skate store, Viento y Agua eatery and Vans Corporate Headquarters (in nearby
Cypress
Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word ''cypress'' is derived from Old French ''cipres'', which was imported from Latin ''cypressus'', the ...
).
Rowley continues to follow
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
from the
English Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
and is a supporter of
Liverpool F.C
Liverpool Football Club is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founded in ...
. Rowley used the club's anthem "
You'll Never Walk Alone
"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''Carousel''. In the second act of the musical, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and enco ...
" as the music for his part in the ''Really Sorry'' skateboard video and stated that his family was pleased: "My whole family loved that ... That's why the song was used—for my parents and my grandparents. It was nod, a thank you in their direction."
He shares a birthday with fellow pro skateboarder
Andrew Reynolds.
Videography
*Flip: ''The Long Overdue'' (unofficial) (1992)
*Hook-Ups: ''Asian Goddess'' (1994)
*''411VM'': Issue 13 (1995)
*''411VM'': Issue 10 (1995)
*Rollersnakes: ''720''
*Transworld: ''Uno'' (1996)
*Church of Skatan: ''Santa Barbara'' (1996)
*Airwalk: ''Skateboarding Video 96'' (1996)
*Volcom: ''Freedom Wig'' (1997)
*''411VM'': Issue 30 (1998)
*Transworld: ''Feedback'' (1999)
*''CKY2K'' (2000)
*''411VM: Best Of 411'' – Volume 5 (2000)
*''Digital – No. 2'' (2000)
*''Collage'' (2001)
*''CKY 3'' (2001)
*''OP King of Skate'' (2002)
*Flip: ''Sorry'' (2002)
*''Thrasher'': ''S.O.T.Y. Video'' (2003)
*Flip: ''Really Sorry'' (2003)
*''CKY4: The Latest & Greatest'' (2003)
*Volcom: ''Chichagof'' (2004)
*''Thrasher'': ''King of the Road 2005'' (2005)
*Vans: ''Pleased to Meet You Tour'' (2005)
*Globe: ''The Global Assault'' (2006)
*Flip: ''Feast Tours'' (2006)
*Strange Notes: ''Tastes Like Awesome!'' (2007)
*Independent: ''30th Anniversary Tour'' (2008)
*Flip: ''Extremely Sorry'' (2009)
*''Meatpauls!'' (2010)
*Flip: ''The Weight of the World'' (2012)
Rowley has co-directed all of the Flip videos, together with
Fred Mortagne and Jeremy Fox (''Sorry''), Jeremy Fox (''Really Sorry''), and Jeremy Fox and Ian Deacon (''Extremely Sorry'').
References
External links
Flip SkateboardsCivilware Service CorporationLost Art Skate ShopFree Dome Skateboards
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowley, Geoff
1976 births
English skateboarders
Sportspeople from Liverpool
Living people
Skateboarding video directors