Rodney Mullen
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John Rodney Mullen (born August 17, 1966) is an American professional
skateboarder Skateboarding is an action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation. S ...
who practices
freestyle skateboarding Freestyle skateboarding (or freestyle) is one of the oldest styles of skateboarding and was intermittently popular from the 1960s until the early 1990s, when the final large-scale professional freestyle skateboarding competition was held. Desc ...
and
street skateboarding Street skateboarding is a skateboarding discipline which focuses on flat-ground tricks, grinds, slides and aerials within urban environments, and public spaces. Street skateboarders meet, skate, and hang out in and around urban areas refer ...
. He is considered one of the most influential skaters in the history of the sport, being credited for inventing numerous tricks, including the flatground
ollie Ollie is a given name and a nickname, often as a shortened form of Oliver, Olive, Olympia, Olga or Olivia. Variants include Olie, Oli, Oly and Olly. People Given name * Ollie Marie Adams (1925–1998), American gospel and R&B singer * Olli ...
,
kickflip The kickflip is a skateboarding trick, in which the rider flips their skateboard 360° along the axis that extends from the nose to the tail of the deck. When the rider is regular footed the board spins counter-clockwise if viewed from the side. ...
, heelflip, impossible, and 360-flip. As a result, he has been called the "Godfather of freestyle Skateboarding". Rodney Mullen won his first world freestyle skateboard championship at the age of 14; over the following decade, he won 34 out of 35 freestyle contests, thus establishing the most successful competitive run in the history of the sport. Over the following years, he transitioned from freestyle to street skateboarding, adapting his accumulated freestyle skills to street and inventing or expanding upon additional tricks in the process, such as primo slides, dark slides, and Casper slides. Mullen has appeared in over 20 skateboarding videos and has co-authored an autobiography, entitled ''The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself'', with writer Sean Mortimer.


Early life

Mullen was born in
Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...
. As a child, Mullen slept in boots designed to correct a severe pigeon-toe condition. Despite Mullen's condition, "He had an incredible dexterity with his feet," said Phil Chiocchio, former owner of the Florida skatepark, Sensation Basin. Mullen began skateboarding at the age of ten, on New Year's Day of 1977, after a neighborhood friend introduced him to a skateboard. He promised his strict father that he would cease skateboarding the first time he became seriously injured:
My dad wouldn't let me have a skateboard. He thought I'd get hurt and never get good, and the culture was bums, and I'd turn into one. He was a dentist, but before that he was military, and there were times you'd call him, 'Sir.' New Year's Day he had a drink and felt better, and the skate shop was open. I learned to skate in our garage. We lived in the country in Florida, it was sort of farmish, and there was no cement anywhere else. Vert skating was the kind of skating that was done in pools, where you could get airborne and be weightless. The other style, which is what I did, was called freestyle, which was tricks you could do on flat ground.
Mullen practiced in the garage of the family home while wearing a comprehensive protective pads setup, a precaution that was part of the deal with his father. He also spent time with his sister's surfer friends who skated on weekdays. He became obsessed with the skateboard and practiced for many hours on a daily basis.


Professional skateboarding

In 1978, even though he had owned a skateboard for only just over a year, Mullen placed fifth in the Boy's Freestyle category at the US Open Championships at Kona Skatepark in
Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...
, Florida. Skateboard manufacturer Bruce Walker saw his performance and sponsored Mullen through Walker Skateboards from 1978 to 1980. Mullen's biggest influence in skateboarding at the time was a Walker professional skateboarder, Jim McCall, who was coached in his early years by Walker (Walker also coached a young
Kelly Slater Robert Kelly Slater (born February 11, 1972) is an American professional surfer, best known for being crowned World Surf League champion a record 11 times. Slater is widely regarded as the greatest professional surfer of all time. Slater is also ...
). Mullen was also influenced in a positive manner by professional skateboarders from Florida including Ed Womble, George McClellan, Clyde Rodgers, Tim Scroggs, and Kelly Lynn. In later years, Mullen was coached by Barry Zaritsky (also known as "SIO Barry"), who owned a company called SiO Safety Shorts. When his family moved to a farm in a remote part of Florida, Mullen began perfecting his flat ground techniques in the family garage; he has said that the isolation and lack of terrain naturally guided him towards freestyle skateboarding. Mullen cites July 1979–August 1980 as his "most creative time," a time when he was predominantly a loner who counted the cows of the family farm as his best friends. Mullen then proceeded to win thirty successive amateur competitions in the late 1970s, mostly in his home state of Florida, culminating in a win at the Oceanside Nationals in June 1979. In 1980, the 14-year-old Mullen entered the Oasis Pro competition, defeating the world champion, Steve Rocco. At Oasis Skatepark Mullen also spotted a 12-year-old skater who "introduced himself as
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 ...
." Recalled Mullen, "Before Tony was sponsored, before anybody knew anything about him, he made an impression on me," and the two would go on to become good friends.


Bones Brigade

Shortly thereafter, Mullen turned professional as a member of the renowned
Bones Brigade Powell Peralta is an American skateboard company founded by George Powell and Stacy Peralta in 1978. The company rose to prominence in the 1980s as skateboarding began maturing as a sport. The company featured the Bones Brigade, a team featurin ...
team sponsored by
Powell Peralta Powell Peralta is an American skateboard company founded by George Powell and Stacy Peralta in 1978. The company rose to prominence in the 1980s as skateboarding began maturing as a sport. The company featured the Bones Brigade, a team featurin ...
, based on the recommendation by Powell Peralta rider and fellow Floridian skateboarder Tim Scroggs of Mullen to company co-founder Stacy Peralta, whom Mullen highly admired. Mullen competed voraciously throughout the 1980s, often frustrating competitors and judges with his consistency and progressive ability. Mullen 2004 Like most skaters at the time, Mullen skated a mix of styles, including some vert, before skateboarding became more clearly delineated, as skaters who were more freestyle-oriented gravitated toward
street A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, ...
and those who had skated more transition, bowls, and pools went into vert. Mullen enrolled in the
chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...
program at the
University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
, leaving during his senior year prior to completing his degree in order to take over management of
World Industries World Industries is a skateboarding company that offers skateboarding products, accessories and clothing. The company was founded by Steve Rocco in 1987. In 1988, Rocco was joined by skater, Rodney Mullen, and then Mike Vallely in 1989. As of ...
with fellow Bones Brigade team member and company co-founder Steve Rocco.


Invention of the flatground ollie

Among his most significant contributions to the evolution of modern skateboarding, Rodney Mullen adapted the
ollie Ollie is a given name and a nickname, often as a shortened form of Oliver, Olive, Olympia, Olga or Olivia. Variants include Olie, Oli, Oly and Olly. People Given name * Ollie Marie Adams (1925–1998), American gospel and R&B singer * Olli ...
, first pioneered by
Alan Gelfand Alan "Ollie" Gelfand (born 1963 in New York City) is an American skateboarder and the inventor of the ollie, a skateboarding trick. Life and career Gelfand moved from New York City to Hollywood, Florida with his family in 1972. He started skateb ...
on vert (where Gelfand would scoop off the back trucks to obtain more air off the wall, but without popping the tail of the skateboard in the process), to flat ground. This ability to pop the board off of the ground and drag it upward into the air, gaining significant altitude and air time, allowed ollieing onto rails and obstacles and opened the door to more complex
flip tricks A flip trick is a type of skateboarding trick in which the skateboard rotates around its vertical axis, or its vertical axis and its horizontal axis simultaneously. The first flip trick, called a kickflip but originally known as a "magic flip", ...
and other flat ground tricks. The invention of this trick alone, even apart from the numerous other tricks that he has invented and his design work, has ranked Mullen as one of the most important skateboarders of all time. In response to the praise that he has received for the flat ground ollie, Mullen stated in August 2012:
The origins of ollies—a guy named Alan Gelfand did it on vert…I had for a long time done a really simple movement, which was—it was just a transfer trick…and there are a ton of tricks where I needed to get to this side '' emonstrates going from standing regular on his board to standing on the nose'. It's a transfer trick—I'd been doing that since the late seventies, so that I could, in turn, do things like this '' emonstrates going from standing on the nose to a nose-stand and then landing back on his skateboard'. When I saw him elfanddo it on the wall, I immediately—I'm thinking, the mechanics of it: how do you get your board off the ground—how would you get your board off the ground like he did off the wall, 'cause I'm stuck on flat ground, not weightless... e first ones I did took about, I don't know, five, ten minutes...I realized, that's just the same motion I've been doing for years—it's a see-saw motion; that's how ollies work…it's just a punch and a little hop; and the real key to it was dragging your foot and leveling it out, which brings the board up...In a back-handed way, people credit me within the documentary, Stacy eraltas ''Bones Brigade'' documentary, credit me with the importance of the ollie that gave the foundation for street skating, which is just skateboarding today, all that; and to me it was like, "Yeah, but, it's not a big deal." Took me ten minutes, fifteen, half an hour, an hour; and the next thing you know, you're getting 'em this high, and that's what laid the foundation for everything else. So, in a sense, the biggest innovation for street skating, which is what they credit me for—it's not a big deal!
Throughout the 1980s, he invented the majority of skating's ollie and flip tricks, including the flat ground ollie, the
kickflip The kickflip is a skateboarding trick, in which the rider flips their skateboard 360° along the axis that extends from the nose to the tail of the deck. When the rider is regular footed the board spins counter-clockwise if viewed from the side. ...
, the heelflip, the 360-flip, and many others. These tricks are now considered essential building blocks of both modern
vert skateboarding Vert skateboarding, short for vertical skateboarding, is the act of riding a skateboard on a skate ramp or other incline and involves the skateboarder transitioning from the horizontal plane to the vertical plane in order to perform skateboarding ...
and street skateboarding.


World Industries

In early 1989, Mullen left the Bones Brigade to join
World Industries World Industries is a skateboarding company that offers skateboarding products, accessories and clothing. The company was founded by Steve Rocco in 1987. In 1988, Rocco was joined by skater, Rodney Mullen, and then Mike Vallely in 1989. As of ...
as a principal investor with longtime friend and former rival, Steve Rocco, in the formation of the very first skateboarder-owned company—professional skateboarder,
Mike Vallely Mike Vallely ( ), also known as Mike V, is an American professional skateboarder and musician. Since November 2013, he has been the lead vocalist of hardcore punk band Black Flag. Vallely is the second-longest-serving member of the band, althou ...
, later joined the company for a brief period of time. Mullen and Rocco had embarked on a very risky venture, as Powell Peralta was an established company and Rocco's upstart company had been struggling at the time. World Industries would later develop into the distribution company,
Dwindle Distribution Dwindle Distribution, based in El Segundo, California, is an American skateboard distributor. It is a component of Transom Capital Group Limited. The company was founded by Steve Rocco and Rodney Mullen. Its formation is recognized as a key eve ...
, which is the world's largest skateboard manufacturer in the 21st century.


Transition to street and Plan B

As the popularity of freestyle skateboarding declined, Mullen was urged to transform his style to join the street skating trend that was becoming increasingly popular at that time; however, Mullen was very reluctant due to a fear of compromising his integrity, whereby the foundation of his skateboarding would be "sold out." Such pressure is alluded to in the World Industries video, ''Rubbish Heap'', in which Mullen's sequence ends with a team member,
Jeremy Klein Jeremy Klein (born July 12, 1971, in Torrance, California) is an American artist and former professional skateboarder. Professional skateboarding Klein rose to prominence as one of the original riders for Steve Rocco's World Industries company. ...
, deliberately breaking his freestyle skateboard (which is also the first recorded focus of a skateboard) and then handing him a note from Rocco, accompanied by a street skateboard deck, in which the end of freestyle is declared. In 1991, Mullen joined the high-profile skateboarding team,
Plan B Skateboards Plan B Skateboards is a skateboarding company based in San Diego California, United States, founded by Mike Ternasky, Danny Way and Colin McKay. PlanB has been manufacturing and selling premium skateboard hard goods and apparel since 1991 . Hist ...
. Mike Ternasky, the owner of Plan B, influenced Mullen to transition from freestyle to street skating, and showcased his skills in the 1992 Plan B video, ''Questionable''. His segment begins with traditional freestyle tricks executed on flat ground, but quickly transitions into Mullen skateboarding across public terrain to shift into street skating tricks and lines. Mullen's video part signified a major transformation in relation to both his career and his skateboarding. Ternasky filmed Mullen as he sequenced tricks and mixed flip tricks with grinds and boardslides, while he also negotiated obstacles. Mullen also introduced two newly invented tricks in ''Questionable'', the kickflip underflip and the
Casper Casper may refer to: People * Casper (given name) * Casper (surname) * Casper (Maya ruler) (422–487?), ruler of the Mayan city of Palenque * Tok Casper, first known king of Maya city-state Quiriguá in Guatemala, ruling beginning in 426 * David ...
slide. Mullen's ''Questionable'' performance might have marked the beginning of a new era in street skateboarding. His reluctant transition from freestyle to street skateboarding was a symbol that legitimized the technical direction street skating had taken over the previous few years. Mullen focused on the progression of this transition in subsequent Plan B videos, including 1993's ''Virtual Reality'', in which Mullen showcases the newly mastered trick, the
darkslide A slide is a skateboarding trick where the skateboarder slides sideways either on the deck or the trucks. Terms of direction ;Frontside :A slide with the skateboarder's frontside facing the obstacle he or she is sliding on, or the skateboarde ...
. Mullen's participation in Plan B dissolved after Ternasky was killed in a car crash on May 17, 1994. Mullen later explained, "He was such a great person. He would lift you so high and that is why Plan B was what it was. And it was clear once Mike was gone that it was never the same."


A-Team and Enjoi

In 1997, Mullen started a company, the A-Team—along with Marc Johnson, Gershon Mosley, Dave Mayhew, and Chet Thomas—with the intention of forming a "super team." When A-Team folded in 2000, Mullen made the transition from company founder to company rider for Enjoi Skateboards. Former Maple rider, Marc Johnson, founded Enjoi Skateboards and also recruited riders Chris Cole and
Bobby Puleo Bobby Puleo (born 1974) is a regular-footed American professional skateboarder and artist. Life Born in Passaic, New Jersey, Puleo began skateboarding at 10. His first board was the Skull and Sword Powell Peralta board, which he received for C ...
, with
Jerry Hsu Jerry Hsu (born December 17, 1981) is a Taiwanese-American skateboarder, photographer and currently owner of clothing company "Sci-Fi Fantasy". As of October 2018, Hsu does not have pro status in skateboarding anymore and has no sponsors. Early ...
for the team.


Stance erasure

As a result of injuries accrued over many years riding in a fixed regular stance, from 2007 onward Mullen made a conscious effort to "erase" his riding stance, re-learning tricks (and in many cases learning new tricks he was unable to do previously riding regular)
goofy Goofy is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. He is a tall, Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled f ...
and endeavoring to re-learn riding a skateboard neutrally in the absence of any preferential "natural stance." In an interview with
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 ...
, Mullen explained that he had developed problems in his right hip joint, with scar tissue building up in his joint over years as a result of habitually hyper-extending his leg (e. g., doing the
splits A split (commonly referred to as splits or the splits) is a physical position in which the legs are in line with each other and extended in opposite directions. Splits are commonly performed in various athletic activities, including dance, figu ...
, a danger inherent in practicing riskier tricks such as
darkslide A slide is a skateboarding trick where the skateboarder slides sideways either on the deck or the trucks. Terms of direction ;Frontside :A slide with the skateboarder's frontside facing the obstacle he or she is sliding on, or the skateboarde ...
s) while skating. Mullen stated that through extensive stretching and the use of blunt objects he was able to break up the scar tissue in order to restore his range of motion. Mullen further explained in an interview at Germany's Bright tradeshow in 2011:
For me, it was a grinding to a halt, until I could barely walk really... I took about a couple of years, a year-and-a-half of breaking myself apart; pretty medievally. And as I did so, I realized that that was helping me unravel my stance; and so now, I've just been investigating, or pushing myself to try to, to, take apart my stance so that I no longer have one. And so it's not just doing everything switch, because everybody does whatever switch. It's to have no stance at a physical level. And so even what you did in your regular, native stance, it feels…new.


2014–present

The Almost company celebrated its 10th anniversary with an event at the Berrics indoor skate complex in early March 2014, and Mullen attended the venue for the first time. As part of the celebration, Mullen completed an interview with the Berrics that is titled "A Beautiful Mind," in which Mullen explained his current relationship with skateboarding: "Because we all have that fear of judgment…yeah, that's true. I'm like that—I'm afraid of being judged. I don't necessarily want to be seen in public sucking, getting older; but, what I keep inside, that joy of feeling what I do, rolling around, playing around—that's something I'm going to do as long as I can. That's who I am…who I am." The first video footage of Mullen skateboarding in nine years was published on
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 YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
'' channel in July 2014. Mullen appears in the video skateboarding at musician
Ben Harper Benjamin Chase Harper (born October 28, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae, and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live perfo ...
's residence and Harper also performs a single trick at the video's conclusion. The part was filmed by Ben Fordham of the Gracias L.A. brand, which released the ''Gracias Skateboarding Volumen Uno'' video in 2014 that also features Mullen. Together with other members of the Almost team, Mullen appeared in a June 2015 photo retrospective of the Almost brand that was shot and curated by skateboard photographer Seu Trinh. Mullen was part of the Globe brand's "EUTrippin'" 2015 European tour, alongside other team members including Mark Appleyard and Haslam.


Other ventures


''Rodney vs. Daewon''

Around 1997, Mullen also initiated discussions with friend and fellow professional skateboarder,
Daewon Song Zen Master Daewon Moon Jae-hyeon (born January 23, 1936) is a Korean Zen master in South Korea. A disciple of Zen Master Jeongang, he received Dharma transmission from his teacher and thereby becoming the 78th patriarch in the Dharma Lineage ...
, to plan the video ''Rodney vs. Daewon'', released in 1997, which featured the two skaters "competing" with their respective video parts. The concept developed into a series and, , three "rounds" have been produced.


Tensor

Around 2000, Mullen engaged in the development of his own
skateboard truck A skateboard is a type of sports equipment used for skateboarding. They are usually made of a specially designed 7-8 ply maple plywood deck and polyurethane wheels attached to the underside by a pair of skateboarding trucks. The skateboarder ...
design, a concept that would later become the foundation for the company
Tensor In mathematics, a tensor is an algebraic object that describes a multilinear relationship between sets of algebraic objects related to a vector space. Tensors may map between different objects such as vectors, scalars, and even other tenso ...
. In 2000, Mullen filed for a United States
Patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
in support of his innovative work in the area and submitted the following abstract to the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...
:
A skateboard having one or more truck assemblies configured to eliminate undesired ride characteristics such as hanger-jiggle and wheel bite, without sacrificing the skateboard's steering responsiveness. Each truck assembly includes an axle assembly with a ring-shaped hanger that is confined on a kingpin using a pair of bushings, at least one of which includes an annular flange that projects into an annular gap defined between the hanger and the kingpin. This prevents the hanger from moving laterally relative to the kingpin and thereby eliminates undesired ride characteristics such as hanger-jiggle and wheel bite. In a separate feature of the invention, the skateboard truck assembly further incorporates a low-friction slider plate that enhances the rider's performance of certain maneuvers and at the same time protects other components of the truck assembly from undue wear.
A subsequent advertisement was released, entitled "The Patented Tensor Design." Tensor recruited team riders such as
Daewon Song Zen Master Daewon Moon Jae-hyeon (born January 23, 1936) is a Korean Zen master in South Korea. A disciple of Zen Master Jeongang, he received Dharma transmission from his teacher and thereby becoming the 78th patriarch in the Dharma Lineage ...
, Chris Cole, Chris Haslam,
Salman Agah Salman Agah (born July 10, 1972) is an American professional skateboarder and entrepreneur. Early life Salman Agah was born in Washington, D.C. to Persian and Azeri parents. He started skateboarding at the age of 5. After returning to the Unite ...
,
Ryan Sheckler Ryan Allen Sheckler (born December 30, 1989) is an American professional skateboarder and entrepreneur, and was the star of the MTV-produced reality television series '' Life of Ryan.'' He also starred in four seasons of the short-format video se ...
, Kanten Russell, and Gailea Momolu. , the Tensor team consists of Mullen, along with Daewon Song,
Ronnie Creager Ronnie Aaron Creager (born January 14, 1974) is a "goofy-footed" American professional skateboarder from Orange, California. Early life As Creager has explained in a 2011 interview, he commenced skateboarding at the age of three: My neighbor M ...
, Enrique Lorenzo,
Manny Santiago Emanuel "Manny" Santiago (born September 10, 1985), nicknamed "Manny Slays All", is a professional skateboarder from Cayey, Puerto Rico. Santiago is the first Puerto Rican skateboarder to be in the Street League Skateboarding (SLS) “premier c ...
,
Zered Bassett Zered Bassett (born February 6, 1984) is a regular-footed professional skateboarder, living and working in New York City. Early life Born in Hyannis, Massachusetts, Bassett grew up in Chatham, Massachusetts. Skateboarding career Zered Bassett' ...
, Felipe Ortiz, and
Joey Brezinski Joey Brezinski (born September 5, 1979) is an American street skateboarder. He originates from Orange County, United States (US) listed as his "hometown". Professional skateboarding The "backside tail-slide" is Brezinski's favored trick and he ...
.


Almost and Dwindle Distribution

Mullen subsequently left Enjoi to co-found
Almost Skateboards Almost Skateboards is an American skateboard company founded by professional skateboarders and business partners Rodney Mullen and Daewon Song. The company manufactures skateboard decks using 7-ply, 8-ply, and carbon fiber constructions, while th ...
with
Daewon Song Zen Master Daewon Moon Jae-hyeon (born January 23, 1936) is a Korean Zen master in South Korea. A disciple of Zen Master Jeongang, he received Dharma transmission from his teacher and thereby becoming the 78th patriarch in the Dharma Lineage ...
, who had been unable to find success with the two preceding deck companies that he had founded, Deca and Artefact. Mullen and Song proceeded to recruit Cooper Wilt (a former Artefact rider), Chris Haslam (a former Deca and Artefact rider),
Greg Lutzka Greg Lutzka (born April 20, 1985) is a "goofy-footed" (naturally places his right foot at the nose of the skateboard) professional skateboarder Early life Lutzka was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States (US). Lutzka explained in 2014 tha ...
, and Ryan Scheckler to form the initial basis of the company. After years of success and controversy, Steve Rocco decided to sell
World Industries World Industries is a skateboarding company that offers skateboarding products, accessories and clothing. The company was founded by Steve Rocco in 1987. In 1988, Rocco was joined by skater, Rodney Mullen, and then Mike Vallely in 1989. As of ...
. In 2002, World Industries, under the holding name "Kubic Marketing," was sold to
Globe International Globe International Ltd. is an Australian footwear, clothing, and skateboard hardware company. It was founded in 1985 by three Australian brothers. Globe International's core business is divided between proprietary brands, licensed brands, and ...
for US$46 million. Its owner Rocca and Mullen, a principal investor, both became instant multimillionaires. Kubic's management remained intact, and Mullen began working for Globe under the
Dwindle Distribution Dwindle Distribution, based in El Segundo, California, is an American skateboard distributor. It is a component of Transom Capital Group Limited. The company was founded by Steve Rocco and Rodney Mullen. Its formation is recognized as a key eve ...
brand. , Mullen remains the co-owner and a team rider for the Almost brand; his role at Almost also includes research and development on new designs and technologies, including Impact Support, Double Impact, and Uber Light. The Uber Light design was a collaborative effort between Mullen and the CL Composites company, utilizing a design that consists of "a deck inside a deck," whereby, "The internal carbon fiber foam deck is ultra-light and nearly as stiff as metal. It acts like rebar, or a skeleton embodied by a standard 7-ply layup. It also vastly improved the lateral rigidity. The deck wears, slides, and looks like a normal 7-ply, but it's lighter and has a supernatural pop that lasts far longer than any normal deck." Mullen also contributes to the design of experimental and composite deck constructions for Dwindle's other brands, such as Blind and Darkstar.


Video game appearances

Mullen's popularity grew in 2000 when he made his first appearance in the ''Tony Hawk's'' video game series. Mullen has since appeared in various titles of the ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater'' series including: * ''
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2'' is a skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the second installment in the '' Tony Hawk's'' series of sports games and was released for the PlayStation in 2000, with subs ...
'' * ''
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3'' is a 2001 skateboarding video game and the third installment in the '' Tony Hawk's'' series. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision under the Activision O2 label in 2001 for the PlayStation, Pl ...
'' * ''
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4'' is a skateboarding video game and the fourth entry in the '' Tony Hawk's'' series. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision under the Activision O2 label in 2002 for the GameCube, PlayStation, Xbox, ...
'' * ''
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, ...
'' * ''
Tony Hawk's Underground 2 ''Tony Hawk's Underground 2'' is a skateboarding video game, the sixth entry in the '' Tony Hawk's'' series after ''Tony Hawk's Underground''. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision on October 4, 2004 in the U.S. for the PlayS ...
'' * ''
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland ''Tony Hawk's American Wasteland'' is a skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the seventh entry in the '' Tony Hawk's'' series and was released initially for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox in ...
'' * ''
Tony Hawk's Project 8 ''Tony Hawk's Project 8'' is a skateboarding video game and the eighth installment in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision in November 2006 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, an ...
'' * ''
Tony Hawk's Proving Ground ''Tony Hawk's Proving Ground'' is a 2007 skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Vicarious Visions for the Nintendo DS, and by Page 44 Studios for the PlayStation 2 and Wii. ''Proving Ground'' is the n ...
'' * '' Tony Hawk: Ride'' * ''
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' ...
'' * ''
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 ...
'' In 2019, he also voiced Jace Skell in the video game ''
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint ''Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint'' is an online-only tactical shooter video game developed by Ubisoft Paris and published by Ubisoft. The game was released worldwide on 4 October 2019 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, and on 18 De ...
''. In 2022, he and his team released his first game calle
Rodney Mullen's Skatrix


Books

In 2015, Mullen wrote the foreword to the Dwindle and Globe history book ''Unemployable: 30 Years of Hardcore, Skate and Street'' reflecting upon his twenty-year involvement with those companies. In 2003, Mullen wrote and released his autobiography, ''The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself''.


Public speaking

Mullen has completed numerous public speaking engagements and has been invited to present on topics such as his personal life, skateboarding, innovation, creation, and the concept of community. The Lemelson Center at MIT invited Mullen to visit the center, a part of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History to discuss invention and innovation from within the context of American society. The Lemelson Center exchanged ideas and views with Mullen about skateboarding, in addition to the manner in which creativity and innovation can contribute to the development of an improved society. Mullen was invited by the
Sapling Foundation The Sapling Foundation is a non-profit organization that owned the TED global conference, from 1996 to June 2019. It was founded by Chris Anderson Chris Anderson may refer to: Sports * Chris Anderson (baseball) (born 1992), American baseball pl ...
, as part of its TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) public speaking series, to present at the
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
(USC) in June 2012. Mullen's talk was entitled, "How Context Shapes Content", and featured his perspectives on the manner in which the street-based context of skateboarding influences his practice, in addition to his view of the skateboarding community, whereby he compared the community to the
open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
and hacking movements. Mullen also spoke about resilience and creativity in a talk entitled "Getting Back Up" at the Pop!Tech "Sparks of Brilliance" event in October 2013. In the first half of 2014, Mullen was invited by the
O'Reilly Media O'Reilly Media (formerly O'Reilly & Associates) is an American learning company established by Tim O'Reilly that publishes books, produces tech conferences, and provides an online learning platform. Its distinctive brand features a woodcut of an ...
technology company to present at its "Strata" and "Velocity" conferences, both of which were held in Santa Clara, California. Mullen's Strata presentation in February 2014 was titled "The Art of Good Practice" and consisted of an analysis of the nuanced way in which skateboarders practice their craft. Mullen then presented the "Build on a Bedrock of Failure" keynote in June 2014, in which he spoke of the way that "failure, pain, injury, recovery" are "embedded in the very notion of what it is to be a skateboarder."


Film

In December 2010, Mullen stated in an interview that he was preparing to film a part for the upcoming Almost video, although he did not appear in the 2012 video, ''5-Incher''. In the 2011 Bright tradeshow interview, Mullen stated, "At first, I just wanted to be able to be alright and walk okay and run. And then it was like, okay, skate again and now it's like 'Yeah, I can do something new!'. So, if I can do that, then I'll film. If I can't, then I'll keep my skating private." Both the skateboard media and in responses from Almost indicate that a full part from Mullen is scheduled for release following ''5-Incher''—Mullen was in attendance at the premiere of ''5-Incher''.


Awards, accolades and influence

In 2002, Mullen won the ''
Transworld Skateboarding ''Transworld Skateboarding'' (''TWS'') was an Skate magazine, international magazine on skateboarding that was based in Carlsbad, California, United States. The publication also ran an accompanying website and video production company. In Februar ...
'' Readers' Choice Award for Skater of the Year. In 2003, he was voted as the all-time greatest action sports athlete on the
Extreme Sports Channel The Extreme Sports Channel is a pay television channel that was launched from Amsterdam on 1 May 1999. The channel broadcasts in over 60 countries and 12 languages, and covers extreme sport and adventure sports which include surfing, skateboardi ...
's ''Legends of the Extreme'' countdown. ''Transworld'' also included Mullen in its "30 Most Influential Skaters of All Time" list, released in December 2011 and he was elected into the third position, behind Tony Hawk (second) and
Mark Gonzales Mark Gonzales (born June 1, 1968), also known as "Gonz" and "The Gonz", is an American professional skateboarder and artist. He is known as the godfather of modern street skateboarding and was named the "Most Influential Skateboarder of All Ti ...
(first). In May 2013, Mullen was an inductee of the Skateboarding Hall of Fame and was present at the award ceremony that was held in
Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...
. Fellow professional skateboarder
Steve Caballero Steve Caballero (born November 8, 1964) is an American professional skateboarder. He is known for the difficult tricks and air variations he invented for vertical skating and for setting the long-standing record for the highest air achieved on a ...
and musician
Ben Harper Benjamin Chase Harper (born October 28, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae, and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live perfo ...
shared their experiences of Mullen prior to the presentation of the award, and Caballero credited Mullen with changing the "face" of skateboarding. Professional skateboarder Paul Rodriguez identified Mullen as one of his "top ten" professional skateboarders in July 2013. Rodriguez explained his selection on his personal website: If you really wanna know Gonz [
Mark Gonzales Mark Gonzales (born June 1, 1968), also known as "Gonz" and "The Gonz", is an American professional skateboarder and artist. He is known as the godfather of modern street skateboarding and was named the "Most Influential Skateboarder of All Ti ...
] and Rodney Mullen pretty much innovated damn near everything in street skateboarding. Rodney has always had the most mind-boggling most difficult tricks on top of having invented 50, 60, who knows how many tricks. Just about every modern day flat ground trick that we are doing today he invented. ''Transworld'' has characterized him as possibly the most significant skater of all time, "Rodney Mullen built the house skateboarding lives in. After inventing the flatground ollie—in itself perhaps the most influential trick ever—he went on to unveil kickflips, backside flips, heelflips, 360 flips, double flips, impossibles, darkslides, and onward. Without Rodney, skateboarding would still be in the dark ages." Anthony Pappalardo of The RIDE Channel unequivocally stated, "From almost singled-handedly creating the entire vocabulary of flip-based tricks to revolutionizing the boards below our feet, Rodney Mullen is the biggest influence on modern skateboarding." In ''Transworld Skateboarding'' "Skater's Favorite Skater" video series, both
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 ...
and
Daewon Song Zen Master Daewon Moon Jae-hyeon (born January 23, 1936) is a Korean Zen master in South Korea. A disciple of Zen Master Jeongang, he received Dharma transmission from his teacher and thereby becoming the 78th patriarch in the Dharma Lineage ...
have cited Rodney Mullen as their favorite skater.


Trick invention

Mullen has been credited with inventing the following tricks (years included): *Godzilla rail flip (1979) *540 shove-it (1979) *50/50 Saran wrap (1979) *50/50 Casper (1980) *Helipop (1980) *Gazelle flip (1981) *No-handed 50/50 (1981) *No-handed 50/50 kickflip *Kick flip (1982) *Heel flip (1982) *Double heelflip *Impossible (1982) *Sidewinder (1983) *360 flip (1983) *Switch 360 flip *360 pressure flip (1983) *Casper 360 flip (1983) *Half-cab kickflip (1983) *50/50 sidewinder (1983) *One-footed ollie (1984) *Backside flip (Backside 180 Kickflip) (1984) *Ollie Nosebone (1986) *Ollie finger flip (1986) *Ollie Airwalk (1986) *Frontside heel flip shove-it (1988) *Helipop heel flip (1990) *Kickflip underflip (1992) *Half-cab kickflip underflip (1992) *Casper slide (1992) *Half flip darkslide *Handstand flips


Reflections and perspectives

Mullen has publicly stated that an identification of his favorite skateboarders is an "endless" task. However, he has provided examples such as Chris Haslam, Bryan Herman, Paul Rodriguez,
Antwuan Dixon Antwuan Willis Dixon (born August 19, 1988) is an American professional skateboarder. Skateboarding career Early life Dixon started skateboarding at the age of twelve, when his mom ordered a Powell Peralta deck from CCS. In addition to the c ...
, and
Eric Koston Eric Koston (born April 29, 1975) is an American professional skateboarder and company owner. He has been featured in the '' Tony Hawk's'' video game series and the Electronic Arts (EA) video games ''Skate 2'' and ''Skate 3''. Koston co-owns bot ...
. In 2010 Mullen stated that "skating is one of the greatest blessings I could have," but also expressed concern about the popularity of skateboarding "big stuff" due to the physical toll that it takes on the bodies of professional skateboarders: "So I think it is unhealthy and uncool… I see great skaters and their ankles and knees are ruined." Mullen expanded upon his perspective of skateboarding during his
Lemelson Foundation The Lemelson Foundation is an American 501(c)(3) private foundation. It was started in 1993 by Jerome H. Lemelson and his wife Dorothy. Origins Jerome H. Lemelson based the foundation on his personal beliefs about the role of invention and invent ...
interview:
Skateboarding is as much, or more, an art of mode of expression than it is a sport. What skateboarding has given me is precisely that: a form of expression that drew me to it, and, in so doing, I was able to express and be who I wanted to be through it, in a sense. And establish myself within a community that were all essentially outsiders like myself. And by doing that, it gave me a place, a sense of belonging and, in the end, I was able to contribute, at a foundational level, a lot of the tricks that the entire community uses to express themselves. Which, again, is one of the beauties of skateboarding, is that we all draw from the same pool, and give back; so that others can do the same and keep expounding. Very much like an open source community.
During his attendance at the
Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; Basque also ; oc, Biàrritz ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. ...
international skateboard festival, Mullen was interviewed in relation to a used Mike Carroll skateboard deck from Carroll's time with the Plan B company. Mullen reflected on the personal influence of Plan B founder Mike Ternasky during the interview: "I miss Mike. And the day Jacob called me and goes, "Mike's dead."—I replayed that so many times…and how instrumental that was in driving me forward in a way that kind of honoring what he gave me: A second chance. And how real that is. And it goes back to Stacy eraltas film—it's not what you do; it's what makes you do what you do, is the thing that has to be protected and nurtured. As long as that's there, intact…you can do anything." In a June 2014 interview at O'Reilly Media's Velocity conference, Mullen stated that he does not believe that skateboarding can be categorized as a "sport". Mullen further explained that the self-expressive element of skateboarding shows that it is an art form, while the community element of skateboarding—whereby sharing of ideas occurs—distinguishes it as a "lifestyle" or "philosophy". Mullen also shared his perspective on goals and failure during the interview: "You focus so much on your failures and your weaknesses, it has a…paralyzing effect, where you're dwelling on stuff. For example, having goals: sometimes I have lofty goals, my friends do—we all do, we all have goals. But, if you fix yourself to that goal, and you don't see anything else on the horizon—which is natural, 'cos that what it takes, we all have that in our personality…but, sometimes, if you attach that to a goal that is out of your reach, and you continue to fail, it will just grind you into nothing. And if you dwell on that, it can end you." Mullens says, "Just the enjoyment of doing what you want to do, all the way through—that's the beauty of skateboarding, that so many people actually never find their whole lives. And that's what skateboarding's given me: I can't wake up—I can't wait to wake up in the morning to try something new; a lot of times I can't sleep because I can't wait to try something new… and how many people never really experience that feeling, often; and that's why I skate."


Personal life

, Mullen resides in California with his girlfriend, Lori Guidroz. He describes himself as "juvenile" who prefers to skate during the night and on his own. He says, "Any eyes on me—a late-night street sweeper, some dude texting in his parked car, the homeless guy talking to himself—make me feel uncomfortable when I skate. Everyone expects me to do certain things. It puts a ceiling on your progress. You're blocked by your pride. To get good, you have to throw your board around and fall." Mullen's interests extend beyond skateboarding and include mathematics, physics, engineering, and music. It has been publicly revealed that Mullen owns a pair of high-powered audio speakers, each weighing around , through which he plays a diverse range of music, including
Sabaton A sabaton or solleret is part of a knight's body armor that covers the foot. History Fourteenth and fifteenth century sabatons typically end in a tapered point well past the actual toes of the wearer's foot, following fashionable shoe shapes o ...
and
Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
: "Me and my neighbors, we have an understanding…and so I sit perfect, you know, triangle at the front. You sit there with the remote and you turn it up, just when it starts to hurt, and hit one more and then go like resses his hands to his earsthat, and then you just feel it in your whole body for a while, as long as you can take it. And then you 'arrgh!', and then you turn it off you know and old his hand to his heart and breathes heavily and then I go skate aughs It's awesome, but only if I'm really usually, like, just sometimes when you really need it, you know?" In 2013 musicians
Ben Harper Benjamin Chase Harper (born October 28, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae, and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live perfo ...
and Lee Hartney revealed a close friendship with Mullen and described the skateboarder as a "brother". Mullen has also assisted Harper to learn skateboarding, as the musician has undertaken intensive practice in the fifth decade of his life. Mullen has spoken publicly about his spiritual beliefs, explaining in 2010: "The term religion bums me out. I can't go to church, I've got issues. I've got issues of non-conformity built into me…It's a personal thing and I get so scared about talking about it in public. This guy at
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
once said to me, 'Your skating is like a prayer.' That was the coolest thing anyone's ever said to me. That's what it is for me."


References


Further reading

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mullen, Rodney 1966 births Living people American skateboarders Freestyle skateboarders University of Florida alumni People from Gainesville, Florida American collectors Artist skateboarders