Russ Howell

Last updated
Russ Howell
Personal information
Full nameRussell Wayne Howell
NationalityAmerican
Education Physical education, California State University, Long Beach
Height5 ft 3 in (160 cm) [1]
Sport
Sport Skateboarding
Updated on 7 October 2021.

Russell Wayne Howell [1] (born September 1949) is a professional skateboarder. While working towards his degree in physical education, Howell competed and won many freestyle skateboarding competitions throughout his skating career.

Contents

Life and career

Howell was born in September 1949 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, but moved with his family to Long Beach, California when he was nine months old. [2] [1] Howell first began skateboarding at the age of 9 in 1958. [3] : 83  At the age of 19, Howell entered the United States Air Force, where his roommate got him interested in skiing. After his service, he received a two-year degree in mathematics from a junior college. [1] From there, Howell studied physical education at California State University, Long Beach, eventually earning a Bachelor's degree in 1979. [2] [4]

While working and going to school full-time, Howell began teaching people how to skateboard for free. Encouraged by his students to try competing in a skate contest, he enrolled as a competitor in the 1975 Dyno Championships in Huntington Beach Mall. Howell ended up placing first in the men's freestyle event, and was deemed the second-best overall skater. [1] [5] This was the first in a string of freestyle contest wins for Howell. Most notably, he won the senior men's freestyle event at the 1975 Bahne/Cadillac National Skateboard Championships in Del Mar, California, the same competition that helped propel the Z-Boys to notoriety. [1] [5] [6]

Russ set a Guinness World record for longest handstand on a skateboard (2 minutes). [7] In 1979, he set an unofficial record by performing 163 consecutive 360-degree spins on his skateboard. [8] [2] : xvii  Russ is the first professional skateboarder and opened up the sport to professionalism. He served on many organizational boards in an effort to elevate the sport. He also worked in the Long Beach Unified School District as a substitute teacher. [4] He is a member of the Thrasher Hall of Fame. He currently skates for Decomposed Skateboards.

During the 1970s, Russ Howell built his own wheels (Howell Freestyle Wheels) for his freestyle boards. [9] In 1975, he was sponsored by Grentec, whose plastic skateboards he promoted. However, Howell became disillusioned with Grentec; according to him, the company did not pay him, and the boards he received felt cheap. [10] [11] : 63  In 1992, Howell moved to Boise, Idaho. [2]

Legacy

Howell is regarded as one of the earliest professional freestyle skateboarders who wanted to help skateboarding gain legitimacy as a sport. Stacy Peralta of the Z-Boys recalled that Howell "might have been one of the only skaters to get paid at the time" in 1975. [11] : 62  An issue of Skateboarder magazine that same year described him as "a model competitor", and that he "has done more than anyone to promote the credibility of skateboarding by taking it into the dance-art form stage." [12] Regarding his beliefs, Howell said, "I was a physical-education major, and I wanted to help integrate skateboarding into public school athletics and into a place where the International Olympic Committee would consider it a sport." [11] : 62 

Related Research Articles

Skateboarding Action sport on skateboards

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. Skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years. A 2009 report found that the skateboarding market is worth an estimated $4.8 billion in annual revenue, with 11.08 million active skateboarders in the world. In 2016, it was announced that skateboarding will be represented at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, for both male and female teams.

Boardsports are sports that are played with some sort of board as the primary equipment. These sports take place on a variety of terrain, from paved flat-ground and snow-covered hills to water and air. Most boardsports are considered action sports or extreme sports, and thus often appeal to youth. A large proportion of youth partaking in these sports, together with aesthetic damage to property from sports like skateboarding, has led to many board sports being marginalized by the greater world of sports in the past. However, many board sports are ever-more frequently gaining mainstream recognition, and with this recognition have enjoyed wider broadcast, sponsorship and inclusion in institutional sporting events, including the Olympic Games.

Skating involves any sports or recreational activity which consists of traveling on surfaces or on ice using skates, and may refer to:

Longboard (skateboard)

A longboard is a type of skateboard. It is often longer than a conventional skateboard and has a wide variety of shapes. It tends to be faster because of wheel size, construction materials and more precise hardware. Longboards are commonly used for cruising, traveling and downhill racing, known as longboarding. Longboard 'dancing' and 'freestyle' are also becoming more popular styles, in which the rider uses skateboard-like motions and steps up and down the board, generally in a fluid manner.

Longboarding Sport

Longboarding is riding on a longboard. Longboards vary in shape and size. Compared to skateboards, longboards are more stable, and have more traction and durability due to larger wheel size and lower wheel durometers. Generally, a skateboard comes in between 28-34 inches long and 7-10 inches wide, while a longboard has a length of 35-60 inches and a width of 9-10 inches. Many longboards use trucks (axles) that have different geometric parameters than skateboards. There are a variety of longboard disciplines, and types of longboards. Longboarding has competitive races down hill where riders can reach speeds exceeding 60 mph (97 km/h). The wider turning radius of longboards, as well as their ability to coast long distances make them more suitable for cruising and commuting on streets than regular skateboards.

Natas Kaupas is an American professional skateboarder. He grew up in South Santa Monica, California in the area known as Dogtown and is of Lithuanian descent. He attended Santa Monica High School. He is often referred to as one of the first true professional street skateboarders.

Flowboard

A flowboard is a variation on a skateboard, combining aspects of surfing, skating and snowboarding. There are three sizes made by the brand Flowboards: 32", for tricks and smaller riders; 36", the standard size; and 42", the large downhill bomber.

<i>Lords of Dogtown</i> 2005 American film

Lords of Dogtown is a 2005 American biographical drama film directed by Catherine Hardwicke and written by Stacy Peralta. The film follows a group of young skateboarders in Santa Monica, California during the 70s. This is the first production made by both Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures. The film received mixed reviews and grossed $13 million at the box office.

Freestyle BMX Cycle sport

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.

Frank Nasworthy is notable in the history of skateboarding for introducing polyurethane wheel technology to the sport in the early 1970s.

A freestyle skateboarding trick is a trick performed with a skateboard while freestyle skateboarding. Some of these tricks are done in a stationary position, unlike many other skateboarding tricks. The keys to a good freestyle contest run are variety, difficulty, fluidity, and creativity. This is an incomplete list, which includes most notable tricks.

Roller sports are sports that use human powered vehicles which use rolling either by gravity or various pushing techniques. Typically ball bearings and polyurethane wheels are used for momentum and traction respectively, and attached to devices or vehicles that the roller puts his weight on. The international governing body is World Skate.

Ty Scott Page was a professional skateboarder who was known as one of the most innovative skateboarders in the world. Ty Page was a leader in the skateboarding scene during "the golden era" of skateboarding in the early 1970s. He is best known for creating a freestyle trick called the Ty Hop, which nowadays is known as the "shove-it."

California Free Former was the world's largest skateboard manufacturer during the 1970s. From 1970 to 1981, it was owned by Rick Smith of ALS Industries with a business partner. They also held several licenses from Walt Disney, manufacturing roller skates and other Disney brand consumer products.

Skateboard Wheeled wooden board used for skateboarding

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.

Fingerboard (skateboard)

A fingerboard is a working replica of a skateboard that a person "rides" by replicating skateboarding maneuvers with their fingers. The device itself is a scaled-down skateboard with graphics, trucks and moving wheels. A fingerboard is typically 100 millimeters (3.9 in) long with width ranging from 26 to 55 mm. Professional skateboarder Lance Mountain is widely credited for the first fingerboard, and his skit in Powell-Peralta's "Future Primitive" video brought fingerboarding to the skateboarders of the world in the mid-1980s. Around the same time, Mountain wrote an article on how to make fingerboards in TransWorld SKATEboarding magazine.

A skateboard style refers to the way a skateboarder prefers to ride a skateboard. Skateboard styles can be broadly divided into two different categories: skateboarding to perform tricks and skateboarding as a means of transportation. Styles of skateboarding have evolved over time and are influenced by a number of factors including sociocultural evolution, mass media, music, technology, corporate influence and individual skill level.

Aggressive inline skating Sport discipline

Aggressive inline skating is a sub discipline of inline skating in the action sports canon, which emphasizes the execution of tricks. Aggressive inline skates are specially modified to accommodate grinds and jumps. Aggressive skating can take place on found street obstacles or at skate parks.

MotoBoard was a mass-produced motorized skateboard, made possible by the advent in the mid-1970s of polyurethane skate wheels, as well as the production of lightweight small industrial two-stroke engines.

A Penny board is a type of plastic skateboard, known within the industry as a short cruiser. Penny Skateboards pair a plastic deck with cruiser wheels and trucks. Because they are made out of plastic, Penny boards are light yet resistant.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gillogly, Brian (April 1976). "Interview: Russ Howell". Skateboarder . Vol. 2 no. 4. pp. 41–47.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Beal, Becky (2013). Skateboarding: The Ultimate Guide (1st ed.). Santa Barbara: Greenwood. pp. 63–64. ISBN   978-0313381126.
  3. ↑ Brooke, Michael; et al. (Dan Gesner) (1999). "Russ Howell—Gymnastics Meets Freestyle". The Concrete Wave: The History of Skateboarding. Toronto: Warwick Publishing. p. 83. ISBN   978-1894020541.
  4. 1 2 Wagner, Dick (1985-10-31). "Hanging 10 at 36: Pied Piper of Sidewalk Surfing Keeps His Wheels Spinning, Spinning". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2021-10-07.
  5. 1 2 "Selected Skateboard Contests, 1963-1980". A Secret History of the Ollie. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
  6. ↑ Beato, G. (2001-08-24). "When skateboarding shook the world". The Guardian . Retrieved 2021-10-08.
  7. ↑ Cave, Steve (2018-06-01). "10 Skateboarding Records That Defy Gravity". LiveAbout. Dotdash . Retrieved 2021-10-07.
  8. ↑ Dang, Katy (2008-07-02). "Lifers". Boise Weekly . Archived from the original on 2012-03-25. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
  9. ↑ "Kryptonics Interviews: Russ Howell". Kryptonics . 2014-07-07. Archived from the original on 2015-09-05. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
  10. ↑ Rubin, Courtney (2015-07-22). "Penny Skateboards Find a Niche". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2021-10-07.
  11. 1 2 3 Mortimer, Sean (2008). Stalefish: Skateboard Culture from the Rejects Who Made It. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN   9780811860420.
  12. ↑ "Who's Hot!: Russ Howell". Skateboarder . September 1975. pp. 56–57. A model competitor and genuine "good guy", Russ has done more than anyone to promote the credibility of skateboarding by taking it into the dance-art form stage.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.