Mat Hoffman (born January 9, 1972)[1] is an American BMX rider who was considered one of the best vert ramp riders in the history of the sport.[2] He was nicknamed "The Condor" and ran the BMX Freestyle brand Hoffman BMX Bikes based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was a sponsored rider for Skyway and then Haro Bikes before starting his own brand.
Mathew Hoffman[3] was born on January 9, 1972, in Edmond, Oklahoma to Joni (Geovanna Teresa Papa) and Matthew Hoffman. He has two sisters, Lina and Gina, and two brothers, Todd and Travis.
Hoffman started out racing motocross with his motorcycle being a Kawasaki KDX 80.1, and eventually moving through various other motorcycles such as Yamaha YZ 80 and a Honda CB 80.
In 1982 at the age of ten, Hoffman and his brothers built their first quarterpipe from plans in an issue of BMX Action Magazine. Hoffman began entering BMX freestyle competitions in 1985 around the state of Oklahoma as an amateur. Growing up Mat was a dedicated basketball, football player and wrestler, but around this time he gave up on those and committed completely to BMX.
When he was 11 he got his first real BMX bike, a red Mongoose. A few years later with a group of friends they started the Edmond Bike Shop Trick Team. Around this time his father and uncle built a new nine foot quarterpipe for the trick team that they would haul around to events and put on shows.
Career
Independent beginning
In the summer of 1985, a Mountain Dew commercial began airing that featured pro California riders Eddie Fiola, Ron Wilkerson and R.L. Osborn. Hoffman said, "Its flight lasted all summer, and Travis, Steve, and I would surf around channels trying to avoid the shows but find the advertisement. My mom saw how psyched we'd get and called the local Pepsi bottling and distribution center to talk about creating a local form of promotion in sync with the commercial. A few days later we set up our ramp in the Pepsi distributorship parking lot and did a show in full uniform for a couple of executives from the plant. They were stoked, and we were in. We painted a big Mountain Dew logo on our ramp, got jerseys and stickers, and they set us up with a sponsorship through Edmond Bike Shop to keep us flush with parts and inner tubes. In exchange for the Mountain Dew support, we'd do shows at random supermarkets that sold the soda."[4]
In 1986 the Haro Freestyle Team came through Oklahoma on their tour with Dennis McCoy and Tony Murray. Hoffman said, "They let us ride their ramp with them before the demo, and I unleashed everything I had to impress the famous factory superstars. They paid me the ultimate honor, asking me to ride with them during their demo. This was the equivalent of an aspiring local guitarist being asked by Metallica to come on stage and jam. Afterward, Dennis took Steve Swope and me to dinner and announced that he wanted to bring me on the road for the rest of their tour. I was so blown away I could barely stammer out "sure," and during dinner I was already mentally packing my gear bag for the tour. Dennis made a phone call to tell the guys at Haro the good news. He came back with a weird look on his face that said the call hadn't gone well. Today, I understand how silly it must have sounded when he phoned in his request: "Hey, I found some random fourteen-year-old kid in Oklahoma who rules. Can we pick him up and take him on tour around the rest of the United States?"[5]
Street Talk letter submission from Mat Hoffman Freestylin' Magazine, June 1986
Mat Hoffman first came to the attention of people outside of Edmond, Oklahoma when a letter and photo appeared in the Street Talk section of Freestylin' Magazine's August 1986 issue. In the letter he mentions being sponsored by Mountain Dew and the image shows him pulling off a one footer over a nine foot quarter pipe.
In 1986 Hoffman entered two national freestyle competitions as an unsponsored rider. The first was the AFA Master Series Round 2 in his home state of Oklahoma in August. Mat was prepared to enter as an amateur but his father convinced him to enter as an expert for the competition. Mat was one of the only riders to wear a full face helmet and JT motocross body armor. Once he began riding the spectators and other riders understood why he had on the protection. He finished first in 14-15 expert ramp and stole the show. He had learned to ride BMX with a few friends and with no professionals for reference other then from magazine pictures. He remembers: "When I got to that contest I went 'woah, I guess I am going higher than everyone else'."[6]
Mat Hoffman, Tulsa, Oklahoma Freestylin' Magazine, August 1986
Hoffman entered his second national competition on June 29, 1986, at the General Bicycles/AFA Freestyle Championships at Madison Square Garden in New York City. He finished first in 14-15 expert ramp category riding a blue Haro Sport and was the rider everyone was talking about. In the November 1986 issue of Freestylin' Magazine coverage of the event, Hoffman received a two page photo spread because of his performance. After the competition he was solicited by over 15 sponsors/bike manufactures to ride for them. Hoffman said, "Before I'd caught my breath after my run, the team managers from Skyway and Haro had approached with sponsorship offers. Haro wanted to try me out on their B Team, and let me work my way up. Skyway didn't operate like that, I would be part of their factory squad and get to go on tour, get flown to contests, and draw a salary."[4]
Mat Hoffman, New York City, New York Freestylin' Magazine, November 1986
Skyway years
In July 1986, Hoffman signed a one year sponsorship deal with Skyway Recreation. "I signed on the line with Skyway and was soon flown to their headquarters in Redland, California. The team manager had been hyping my skills, and the owners wanted to witness their new kid in action. During the show I slammed so hard I snapped my other collarbone and wound up in the hospital. Luckily, they decided to keep me on the team."[4]
Mat Hoffman, Vancouver, British Columbia BMX Plus! Magazine December 1986
After healing his collarbone, Hoffman made his Skyway debut in August at the IBMXF World Freestyle Championships in Vancouver.
This competition was held in conjunction with Expo 86 the World's Fair. The freestyle contest was sanctioned by the International BMX Federation and run by the Canadian Freestyle Association using AFA rules. The majority of the 72 participants were from the U.S. and Canada, with one rider from Switzerland and one from France. Skyway, Mongoose and Kuwahara sent full squads of combatants, and while most of the other major factory teams had a couple of riders in attendance, there were some serious absentees. Hoffman finishing second behind Kuwahara's Tim Rogers.
On December 13, 1986, Hoffman rode in his first 2-Hip King of Vert contest at Ron Wilkerson's The Enchanted Ramp in Encinitas, California. There were six pros (Wilkerson, Todd Anderson, Mike Dominguez, Eddie Fiola, Brian Blyther and Josh White and the expert division had riders such as Tim Rogers, Steve Broderson, Marc McGlynn and Hoffman. It was thought that the contest would be a battle between Rodgers and Broderson, "but they weren't on the same level as Matt Hoffman. Matt wasn't 15 yet, but he was by far the raddest guy in the class. He was popping off eight to nine-foot aerials, no-footed cancans, regular cancans, no handers and all sorts of other tricks. He was unbelievable. He was actually radder during practice than he was in his run (like he was at the Velodrome), but still rad enough in his run that there was no doubt who had won. If he stays in freestyle long enough, it's virtually a sure thing he'll be the raddest guy alive in a couple of years. He's kind of shy and quiet when you meet him, not at all what you'd expect from someone so radical."[7]
Mat Hoffman's 1st magazine ad, Skyway 1987
While only 15 years old, Hoffman began construction on an indoor half pipe in his father's medical supply distribution warehouse. He dubbed it The Secret Ninja Ramp and it was made for year round training as opposed to shoveling the snow off his previous ramp. His father donated the space and Hoffman's Skyway salary paid for the materials.
Haro years
In 1988, at the age of 16, Hoffman signs a one year deal to ride for Haro Bikes after the departure of Dennis McCoy and Joe Johnson from the Haro roster freeing up the budget. Hoffman said, "For years, I'd wanted to ride for Haro – the first company to create a freestyle bike – run by the guy who invented the sport. It was a pure respect thing. Adding to the appeal, Haro's roster of sponsored riders was the coolest in the world: Ron Wilkerson, Brian Blyther, Dave Nourie, Joe Johnson, Dennis McCoy... it was the dream team.
Around this time, a shady lady had entered the bike scene with high hopes of turning bike riders into Michael-Jordan-level megabrands. Despite having little clue as to what bike riding was even about, she began handling the careers of a few riders-including Joe Johnson and Dennis McCoy. Whispers of big-buck sponsorships convinced McCoy and Johnson to quit the Haro team, which left gaps in Haro's am and pro ranks and loosened up quite a bit of cash in their team rider budget. It took months for the drama to unfold, but their manager almost "managed" to torpedo their careers. It was unsettling to see two of the best riders in the sport paying their own way to contests, wearing Adidas track suits and doing demos at Chrysler dealerships, just to make a little extra money until that bazillion dollar Pepsi/Huffy deal kicked in (which, of course, never did). But Dennis and Joe's lapse in judgment was my gain-I made a phone call to Rhino and secured a spot on the Haro team. I would remain classified as an am for at least the rest of the year, but I got a pay increase and was making about $50,000 in annual salary -approximately ten times what I earned with Skyway."[4]
At the 1989 2-Hip King of Vert finals in Irvine, California, Hoffman competes in first contest as a professional while still competing as an amateur. The amateurs rode first and Hoffman placed first then turned pro after his run and took first in the pro class. He also won the highest air of the contest and also finished the year as 1988 #1 amateur. An article in Ride Magazine commented: "What's left to say about a guy who ignored all established limits and redefined vert riding– at age 15[?]". In 1989 he won the first contest he entered as a professional and took home a $2,200 check,[6] after winning the amateur contest of the day, taking the year title in the amateur class.
First 900
On March 25, 1989, in Kitchener, Ontario, Hoffman lands the first 900 ten years before Tony Hawk landed one at X Games V. It was only Hoffman's second pro contest and first after quitting Haro. Hoffman had only attempted the 900 once before.
In early 1990, nearly a year after quitting Haro and riding independently on a SE P.K. Ripper, Hoffman resigns with Haro. Hoffman said, "I was sponsorless for about a year. It was a learning experience -I learned how to fix my parts really well.""[4] But in 1991, a year later, Hoffman would leave Haro a second and last time before starting his own company Hoffman Bikes. "When Bob Haro left in 87, I was there 88 and 89, now it's Jim Fordes company and Jim has to make money and these people don't know where they're going with Haro, they don't know how to reinvent. Haro weren't about reinventing, they were just about growth, and I was about reinventing. I was the reason why Haro had a bash guard and had pegs coming out of the forks, they were my designs. I was trying to do new things for Haro, but I would design something and by the time it got to the table and back to me, it was not what I was saying. I was getting knocked out daily, often because of bad parts. Whenever it was about designing parts, I can't tell someone how to do it, I have to do it myself. I could have stayed at Haro and it would have been easier but I would never have got what I believed in, I'd always have to compromise. I never got into BMX to compromise. I got into BMX to dream and keep it pure whatever I dreamed about."[4]
Hoffman Bikes
In late 1991 after leaving Haro, Mat Hoffman began the seeds of Hoffman Bikes. Linn Kasten the founder and engineer of Redline Bicycles helped Hoffman develop a frame and fork and made him five prototype Condor sets in his shop in California. Hoffman remembers, "I went to Linn's house where my crude drawings became intense technical discussions. We tuned the geometry in the drawing and discussed the dilemma of weight versus strength. I wanted a bulletproof bike, but it had to fly. There were incidents in the past where I'd broken three brand-new bikes in one day -and was sick of that crap. I wanted top quality, which meant using American made 4130 aircraft grade chrome-moly tubing, the best money can buy. I was also stoked that it was going to be built in America, which was a rarity for freestyle bikes. A couple of weeks later Linn's machine shop had built me five prototype Condor frames, one for Steve Swope, Rick Thorne, Dave Mirra, Davin Hallford, and me. Our mission was to try and break them. The Condor was good. It was quick, it was stiff, it had clean angles, but more than anything, it was built to last. (rode my prototype frame and fork set for seven months, trying everything in my power to bring it to its knees. The bike held up to flatbottom landings, rooftop drops, handrails, gaps, dirt, street, ditches, extreme weather conditions, name-calling, and giant ramps. I caused my body way more harm than my bike, and the rest of the prototypes held up, too. Midway through the testing phase, I made a couple of minor improvements and declared the design phase done. Time to see if the public would buy them."[4]
In the summer of 1992, the first Hoffman Bikes production frames became available to the public. Although the prototypes were made by Kasten, Hoffman switched to SE Racing for manufacturing. Hoffman said, "Precision materials and craftsmanship came with a steep price tag, and I found out I couldn't afford to have Linn Kastan's shop do production. Mike Devitt of SE Racing saved the day. Mike was another old school BMX guy, and he'd been through the ups and downs of the industry with another legendary company, SE. Their machine shop could make a limited run of custom frame and fork sets. The condition was, I had to pay for half the batch up front, the other half on delivery "Make me two hundred of these," I told Devitt and sent off the schematic for the Condor with a down payment check for $18,000."[4]
He developed the Bicycle Stunt (BS) series to give riders a place to compete and to showcase their talents. ESPN joined with Hoffman Promotions in 1995 to produce and televise the series each year.
The growth of Hoffman Promotions gave birth to the Hoffman Sports Association (H.S.A.), the organizing body for BMX Freestyle events worldwide, such as ESPN's X Games and all international X Games bicycle-stunt events.
Hoffman has produced, directed and hosted several TV series for ESPN including Kids in the Way, HBtv, and Mat's World. In February 2008, Hoffman produced and co-hosted Mat Hoffman's Evel Knievel Tribute with Johnny Knoxville, which aired on MTV and featured record-breaking stunts by Travis Pastrana, Trigger Gunn, Allan Cooke and Davin Halford.
Hoffman is responsible for building the sport for decades, providing support to the biggest names in the industry, including Dave Mirra, Jay Miron, Kevin Robinson, Chad Kagy, Seth Kimbrough, Taj Mihelich, Brad Simms, Anthony Napolitan, Mike Escamilla, Rick Thorne, Kevin Jones, Chase Gouin, Pete Augustin, Day Smith, and Art Thomason, among others.
Hoffman and his team were selected to take part in the closing ceremonies of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta in a production called "Sport as Art". In 1999, H.S.A. developed Mat Hoffman's Crazy Freakin' Bikers Series (CFB), which provides amateur and professional Freestyle bikers a venue in which they can compete. Not only does the H.S.A. promote, organize and host the series, but it also produces all the television programming for the CFB Series, which is aired on ESPN2.
The H.S.A. organizes BMX Freestyle portions of annual U.S. and international events, including the X Games and all international X Games qualifiers. The year 2005 marked the 14th consecutive year of competition production for Hoffman Promotions.
In 2001, Hoffman competed at the X Games, earning the bronze medal. He stunned the industry and fans, alike, when he set another record by successfully completing the first-ever No-handed 900 at the 2002 X Games, resulting in the silver medal.
Hoffman was the first person to ride an oversized ("Big") ramp in 1993 with his first High Air attempt off of a 24-foot quarter pipe. On one of his runs, he tore his spleen, and had he not gotten to a hospital within five minutes, he would have died. When Hoffman achieved 26.6 feet above the ramp in March 1999 to 2001, he had a team of four professional photographers, an elaborate scaffolding system to record the attempt at different angles and had an ABC Wide World of Sports camera crew on-site.
Hoffman is also credited with being the first person to perform a double peg grind down a handrail, as documented in the video Head First, released in 1991. The trick has gone on to be a foundation of modern-day street riding.
In 2005, Hoffman was elected president of the International BMX Freestyle Federation, the international governing body of BMX Freestyle. Also in 2005, the Mat Hoffman Action Sports Park opened in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It has since been recognized as one of the 10 best such parks in the nation.[9]
An ESPN30 for 30 documentary entitled The Birth of Big Air, directed and produced by Jeff Tremaine, Johnny Knoxville, Spike Jonze and Hoffman himself, was released in July 2010.
Past projects include three shows produced by Hoffman– Mat Hoffman's Crazy Freakin' Stunt Show and Mat Hoffman's Aggro Circus at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, and Mat Hoffman's Danger Defying Daredevils at Six Flags Magic Mountain near Los Angeles, California.
The book The Ride of My Life[13] documents Hoffman's story through 2001.
Video games
Hoffman worked with Activision to produce the video games Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX (2001) and Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX 2 (2002), the latter released in conjunction with the Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX 2 Tour TV show, which aired on ESPN2 and is available on DVD and VHS.
David Michael Mirra was an American BMX rider who also competed in rallycross racing. He set the record for most medals in BMX Freestyle at the X Games and earned at least one BMX medal at the event in all but one year from the competition's inception in 1995 until 2009. He also competed for several years with the Subaru Rally Team USA as a rallycross driver. Mirra rode for and was fully sponsored by Haro Bikes from the mid-1990s until he started his own bike company. He was a member of the team which won the 2014 Race Across America four-person male category. Mirra died by suicide on February 4, 2016. He was inducted into the BMX Hall of Fame on June 11, 2016.
Bob Haro is an American former professional freestyle BMX rider turned artist and business executive. He is the founder of Haro Bikes and was one of the most important early innovators of BMX freestyle.
Freestyle BMX is bicycle motocross stunt riding on BMX bikes. It is an extreme sport descended from BMX racing that consists of five disciplines: street, park, vert, trails, and flatland. In June 2017, the International Olympic Committee announced that freestyle park was to be added as an Olympic event to the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Flatland is a freestyle BMX riding style performed on smooth flat surfaces that do not include any ramps, jumps, or grindrails. It is sometimes described as a form of artistic cycling with a blend of breakdancing.
Ryan Nyquist is an American professional BMX rider with 16 X-Games medals, 39 X-Games competition starts and 60 Dew Tour finals appearances. Nyquist is considered one of the greatest and diversely skilled BMX riders ever. Nyquist has won numerous gold medals in the X Games Dirt Jumping & Bike Park events. Recently Nyquist has had an interest in freeride mountain biking and has been training in mountain biking as well as BMX. He currently rides for Haro Bikes, Vans Shoes, Rockstar Energy Drink, and The Jiffy Market of Los Gatos.
Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX 2 is a BMX video game endorsed by Mat Hoffman and published by Activision under the Activision O2 label. The game, which serves as a sequel to Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX, was released on August 13, 2002 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. A Game Boy Advance port was developed by HotGen and released the same day as the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions. A GameCube port was developed by Gratuitous Games and was released on October 8, 2002.
Kevin Jones is a freestyle BMX rider. Raised in York, Pennsylvania, at age 11 he started riding BMX and began BMX racing in 1982. Though successful, he abruptly quit, as he enjoyed dirt jumping more than racing.
Cheri Elliott is an American former champion female bicycle motocross (BMX) racer in the 1980s, and a champion Downhill and Slalom mountain bike racer in the 1990s and early 2000s. During her BMX career, she spent most of her racing career on the national circuit with the Skyway Recreation factory team. She had a relatively short BMX career, but she is a four-time national champion and four-time world champion, including three consecutive National Number One girl-racer titles for the American Bicycle Association (ABA) from 1983 through 1985. She also held the regional UBR Number one girl racer title in 1982. She was the first female racer inducted into the ABA BMX Hall of Fame in 1989, and the first female BMX racer inducted into the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame in 2008.
Freestyle motocross is a variation on the sport of motocross in which motorcycle riders attempt to impress judges with jumps and stunts.
Luther William Grigs is an American "Old School/Mid School" former professional Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1985 to 1996.
Michael Allen King is an "Old School/Mid School" former professional Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1984 to 1998 and is also a former Mountain Bike (MTB) racer who prime competitive years in that discipline were 1993 to 2004.
Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX is a BMX video game endorsed by Mat Hoffman and the first game to be published by Activision under the Activision O2 label. It is similar to the Tony Hawk's series and competed directly with Acclaim Entertainment's Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX. Despite a planned release in fall of 2000, the game was released in May 2001 for the PlayStation and Game Boy Color, followed by Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows and Game Boy Advance.
John Eric Purse is a former American professional "Mid School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer. His prime competitive years were from 1990 to 2000.
China Krys Darrington is the first sponsored female Freestyle BMX rider. In 1986, she rode for GT Bicycles in Huntington Beach, California. She started riding in 1983 after finding a BMX Plus! magazine in the locker of another junior high school student at Old Trail School.
Andrew Patterson is an American former professional "Old School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1977 to 1985. His moniker was "Mr. Bigfoot" for his size 13 feet. Patterson was one of the first American racers to compete on the European BMX circuit during its formative years on a regular basis. He developed a large European following.
Nitro Circus is an "action sport collective" led by Travis Pastrana, featuring his friends and him traveling around the world riding dirtbikes, BASE jumping, and performing stunts. Co-founded in 2003 by Pastrana, Nitro Circus has become a media company that produces television programming, documentaries and the Nitro Circus Live tour. In 2016, the company introduced the Nitro World Games, an action sports competition designed around pushing progression in core action sports disciplines like FMX, BMX, skate and scooter.
Dennis McCoy is an American freestyle BMX rider. He was a member of the American Freestyle Association along with Mat Hoffman and Dave Mirra and also featured in the 2001 video game Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX as well as the 2002 video game Gravity Games Bike: Street Vert Dirt. Is considered to be a pioneer in freestyle BMX, his credentials include being featured in several Road Fools episodes and managing major action sport competitions and events while still maintaining legendary skill on a BMX bike.
Edward Lynn "Eddie" Fiola is an American former professional freestyle BMX rider, and a film stuntman.
Robert Lewis Osborn is a BMX rider. His father Bob Osborn started BMX Action magazine. He, along with Mike Buff and Bob Haro are considered the forefathers of BMX freestyle, a style of BMX bike riding that involves flatland and ramp tricks.
Kevin Robinson nicknamed K-Rob was a professional freestyle BMX rider. Widely recognized as one of the best riders of all time, Robinson was integral in creating Megaramp disciplines for BMX. Aside from this, Robinson was most notable for two stunts in his career: He was the first to successfully land a Double Flair in competition at the 2006 X Games and, in 2016, set the Guinness World record for the highest air on a BMX bike in his home town of East Providence, Rhode Island. Robinson was a longtime receiver of sponsorship from Hoffman Bikes, Red Bull, and Target. Robinson died of a stroke, ten days shy of his 46th birthday, on December 9, 2017.
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