Lester Kasai (born August 12, 1966) is an American retired professional skateboarder.
Kasai grew up in Anaheim, California. He began skating at a young age and was one of the original "Sadlands" team skateboard riders. [1]
He emerged as one of the top competitors of vert riding alongside such pros as Steve Caballero, Mike McGill, Christian Hosoi, and Mark "Gator" Rogowski.[ citation needed ]
The Madonna grab, invented by Tony Hawk, was named by Hawk and Kasai. Kasai invented the Benihana. [2]
Kasai was the second person to do a McTwist, a few days after Mike McGill. He injured himself performing the trick shortly after and as a result no longer does the trick. [3] [4]
Anthony Frank Hawk, nicknamed Birdman, is an American former professional skateboarder, entrepreneur and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first documented "900" skateboarding trick in 1999. He also licensed a skateboarding video game series named after him, published by Activision that same year. Hawk retired from competing professionally in 2003 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential skateboarders of all time.
Steve Caballero 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 halfpipe. In 1999, Thrasher Magazine named Caballero the "Skater of the Century".
John Rodney Mullen is an American professional skateboarder who practices freestyle skateboarding and street skateboarding. He is considered one of the most influential skateboarders of all time. Mullen is credited for inventing numerous tricks, including the flatground ollie, kickflip, heelflip, impossible, and 360-flip. As a result, he has been called the "Godfather of modern street skating."
The X Games are a series of action sports events founded by ESPN Inc. In late 2022, ESPN sold the long-running property to MSP Sports Capital, a private equity firm co-founded by Jahm Najafi and Jeff Moorad.
Tony Hawk's Underground is a 2003 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, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance. In 2004, it was published for Microsoft Windows in Australia and New Zealand as a budget release.
Christian Rosha Hosoi is an American professional skateboarder. He is also known by the nicknames "Christ" and "Holmes".
Ryan Allen Sheckler is an American professional skateboarder and entrepreneur, and the star of the MTV-produced reality television series Life of Ryan, which ran from 2007 to 2009. He also starred in four seasons of the short-format video series Sheckler Sessions on Red Bull TV. Sheckler was listed in Fox Weekly's "15 Most Influential Skateboarders of All-Time" article.
Christ Air is an aerial skateboarding trick where, while flying in the air, the skateboarder picks up their board into one of their hands and then spreads their arms and straightens their legs forming a pose that resembles Jesus Christ on the cross. It was invented by skater Christian Hosoi.
The benihana is an aerial trick performed on a skateboard.
Mike McGill is an American skateboarder who is best known for inventing the trick entitled the "McTwist", an inverted 540 degree mute grab aerial.
The 900 is a 2½-revolution aerial spin performed on a skateboard ramp. While airborne, the skateboarder makes two-and-a-half turns about their longitudinal axis, thereby facing down when coming down. It is considered one of skateboarding's most technically demanding tricks.
Brian Sumner is a British skateboarder, Christian pastor and a travelling evangelist, originally from Liverpool, England. He came to the United States at the age of 15 to pursue a career as a professional skateboarder. He resides in Huntington Beach, California. Sumner received notoriety in the UK for winning contests with his stair/handrail skating. After finishing his schooling and six months of art college in Liverpool, he made his way to the US at the age of 16 to further his skateboarding career.
A varial flip 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", was invented by professional skateboarder Rodney Mullen.
Aerials are a type of skateboarding trick usually performed on half-pipes, pools or quarter pipes where there is a vertical wall with a transition available. Aerials usually combine rotation with different grabs. Most of the different types of grabs were originally aerial tricks that were performed in ditches, empty pools, and vert ramps before flatground aerials became common. Aerials can be executed by ollieing just as the front wheels reach the lip of a ramp, or can be executed simply by lifting the front wheels over the coping. The former is preferable on shallower ramps where the skateboarder has less speed to lift them above the ramp.
Tony Hawk: Ride is a spin-off in the Tony Hawk's series of skateboarding video games. In Europe and North America, the game was released in 2009, for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii. In Australia, it was released in 2010.
Eddie Elguera is a 2-time world champion skateboarder and senior pastor of C3 Church, in the Palm Springs area of Southern California. He is also known by the nickname "El Gato". Eddie graduated from Rim of the World High School. He is married to Dawna Elguera and has three sons, Malachi Elguera, Christopher Elguera, and Isaac Elguera. Eddie also has 4 grandchildren. Elguera and his family currently live in Palm Desert, California.
"Heaven Is a Halfpipe" (also known as "Heaven Is a Halfpipe (If I Die)") is a song by American rock band OPM. It was included on their debut studio album, Menace to Sobriety (2000), and was released on June 27, 2000, as its lead single.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 is a 2020 skateboarding video game developed by Vicarious Visions and published by Activision. It was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on September 4, 2020, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on March 26, 2021, and Nintendo Switch on June 25 of the same year. It is a remake of the first two games in the Tony Hawk's series: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (1999) and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (2000), which were originally developed by Neversoft. It is the first major console game in the series since Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 (2015) and is Vicarious Visions' final work as a subsidiary of Activision before it was merged into Blizzard Entertainment on January 22, 2021.
The Del Mar Skate Ranch, also known as the DMSR, was an American skatepark in Del Mar, California, which opened August 1978 and was demolished July 1987.
Skateboarding Hall of Fame, founded in 1997, is a museum and hall of fame located in Simi Valley, California, United States. The museum documents the history of skateboarding and the skateboarders, photographers, and other notable figures, publications, and companies who have influenced its development.