Good ramp skater but besides his murder was he "that great" or was it more he was talented and had good market appeal. Seems like I remember quite a few better skaters in the 80's then him and he proved after ramp/vert skating went unpopular in the early 90's he could not street skate competitively.
Was he "all that" or is this another case of a documentary making something bigger then it really seemed. I think the "Downtown Julie Brown" bit proved it just might be.
I know this is an old post, but yeah he was one of the biggest skaters in the mid 80's.
I was never a fan of his, even before the whole Vision Street Wear fad blew up (I love how everyone was ripping on that garbage in the film), but I have to admit he was one of the best vert skaters back in the day.
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Yes. Top selling deck from 1986-1988. He was all over Thrasher and Transworld practically up to the murder happened.
The 3 biggest skaters of the late 80's were Hawk, Steve Caballero, and Gator. Street skating came into style around 1989, and Gator just couldn't keep up. But he was still basically giving Hawk a run for his money in being "the king of vert". The fact he also stuck with Vision also didn't help his rep. He was considered skateboardings first sell-out by 1990.
Had the murder not happened, there was a good chance he could've made a comeback, when skateparks that made a comeback in the late 90's.
"You people voted for Hubert Humphrey! And you killed Jesus!" - Raoul Duke
I thought Hosoi and Hawk were generally considered 1-2 through the mid to late 80's?
shareThat depends on who you ask and what their memory was like.
Yes, contest wise, Hosoi and Hawk were the two most dominate skaters, but Gator was #3....at worst.
The thing was, Gator was more of a poster child for 80s skate culture, he was primarily a product of Vision, and Brad Dorfman. He went from being a top contest skater to being a cover boy, when skating regained popularity, Dorfman saw it as a way to make big money. He sold Vision products in stores like JC Penny, where as Powell, Santa Cruz, Hosoi, and so on were found in skate/surf shops and catalog companies. Gator was the poster boy for Vision and...well, basically the poser movement. The Swatch Watch tour, everything associated with Vision and Gator just seemed fake. Which is sad, because Gator was one of the top vert skaters, Hawk, Gator, Hosoi, they were simply the best vert skaters at the time. But Gator let Dorfman twist him and he stopped wanting to be a skater and wanted to be a rock star. Hosoi and Hawk wanted to push the sport, Gator wanted to push his image.
But to answer your question, Hosoi and Hawk were the top two contest skaters in the day...but Gator was right there with them.
I had his board. Got it in like 1985 or 1986. The graphic was the coolest to me. Was so bummed when That board got stolen sometime in late 80s out of my car. Still think it's one of coolest boards.
But yeah Gator was def Top 5 as far as popularity went in 80s. Never quite could approach Hawk's popularity but he was up there. Def put Hosoi in the convo with Caballero.