Home
Popular
Pros
Features
Channels
App
Skateboarding videos
TWS Legend Award: Jay Adams
Tweet
Rate it:
This year’s Legend Award goes to Jay Adams—easily one of the most influential, if not the most influential skateboarder ever—who passed away this past August at the age of 53 while on a surf trip to Mexico. In the simplest sense, Jay Adams took what had up until the early ’70s been a clean-cut Jan and Dean–hyped beach hobby performed in sweater vests, and turned skateboarding into a full-blown counterculture dressed in Vans and blue jeans. He was the original bad-boy seed who ultimately transformed the skateboard from a toy on par with the Hula-Hoop into a weapon of self-expression on par with the electric guitar. Jay changed the primary source of inspiration from gymnastics-based pirouettes and headstands to low-to-the-ground, quick cutting turns and the hands-on-the-ground, aggressive surf style of Larry Bertlemann. Along with Tony Alva and the Z-Boys, as chronicled in Stacy Peralta’s acclaimed 2001 documentary, Dogtown and the Z-Boys, Jay Adams would also be among the first to bring skateboarding to vertical terrains in the backyard pools of Venice, West LA, and Santa Monica; one of the first to catch air above the lip; and—long before Bobby Valdez officially invented the invert in the late ’70s—the first person to attempt handplants in pools with his “fly-away.” In the words of Stacy Peralta, “He was literally skateboarding incarnate, and the genius of it was he wasn’t the best at anything, he just was it. I’ve said before that he was the original virus that got so many people hooked on skateboarding. Now the original spore is gone, but that virus lives on in so many others. Jay’s passing reminds all of us and reaffirms that we’re connected. We’re all rolling down the sidewalk together.” More than anything, Jay Adams all but invented the “100% Skateboarder” attitude—style, spontaneity, and aggression. He made skateboarding something worth fighting for. He was the original middle finger to mai
Posted by:
Transworld Skateboarding
Related
Latest
Skate Nerd with Tincan Skatelore: Jovi Bathemess Vs. Pat Stiener | Skateboarding Trivia Game Show
Skating Hamburg, Germany's Famous Wilhelmsburg Banks & Mantis Skateshop: Sky High Skrilla Episode 6
Cooper Wilt, Leo Romero and history on bank to bench spots: Jason Hernandez's TWS Vault Ep 80
Leo Romero and Shiloh Greathouse filming for 'First Love:' Jason Hernandez's TWS Vault Ep 79
Hamburg, Germany's famously skateable Mantis Skateshop | Sky High Skrilla Ep. 5
411 Industry: Shea Donavan's Capps Company, Custom Hats with Nora Vasconcellos, Jimmy Wilkins
Watching 2003's TransWorld Video 'Free Your Mind:' Podus Operandi
Big Handrail Skating with Leo Romero + Manipulated Audio: Jason Hernandez's TWS Vault Ep 78
Classic LA skate spots with Leo Romero and Shiloh Greathouse: Jason Hernandez's TWS Vault Ep 77
Wallriding the Berlin Wall and the World's Biggest Quarterpipe: Sky High Skrilla Ep 4 Germany Tour
Jason Hernandez's TWS Vault Ep 76: Two Spots with Leo Romero, One Gnarly Trick, One Angry Line
Podus Operandi: Answering Listener Questions, The TransWorld SKATEboarding Podcast Episode 5
More from Transworld Skateboarding >>
Skate Nerd with Tincan Skatelore: Jovi Bathemess Vs. Pat Stiener | Skateboarding Trivia Game Show
🛣️ Wilton Souza from his “Caminhos” NB part
Braden Hoban's looking forward to skating SLS APEX 01 🙌
Sean Malto & Dashawn Jordan, friendly beef 🤣
Aurelien Giraud Wins SLS Paris | Best Tricks
Chloe Covell Wins SLS Paris | Best Tricks
No Shoes No Problem! Fabiana Delfino 🚫👟
Dylan Jaeb Fs Heel over hubba Process
How to ask someone to move when they're in the way #pizzaskateboards #skateboarding
Name the trick⁉️ #skateboarding #skateandcreate #miniramp #oc
We build a ramp for Space X‼️🚀 #skateboarding #skateandcreate #miniramp #oc #skateedit #skateboard
We built a skate ramp for Elon and SpaceX
All Latest >>