Athletes - Tony Hawk

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	Athletes - Tony Hawk

:This article is about the skateboarder. For the British comedian and author, see Tony Hawks. For the game series, see Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.

Anthony Frank "Tony" Hawk (born May 12, 1968 in Carlsbad, CA) is widely regarded as the most famous skateboarder of all time, and is considered the pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding. Hawk is sometimes referred to as the "Birdman". He graduated from Torrey Pines High School near Del Mar in San Diego.

History

Introduced to boarding by his brother, Hawk showed himself a prodigy, turning pro at the age of 16 as a member of Stacy Peralta's Bones Brigade. He was also one of the first skateboarders to have a pro model shoe, produced by Airwalk. The first being Natas Kaupas with a shoe on Etnies, the second being Steve Caballero with a shoe on Vans, and then Tony's.

Competitions & Accomplishments

As of 2004, Tony has won 92 competitions and invented numerous historic tricks. In 1985, he landed the first "720" (a 720 degree, or 2 full revolution spin), and in 1999, he became the first skater in the world to successfully complete the "900" - a 900 degree, 2.5 revolution spin, which some considered to be the 'holy grail' of skateboarding. It occurred at the 1999 X Games after 11 failed attempts, and easily won the Best Trick competition by a large margin in the process.

Personal life

Hawk owned his own halfpipe, constructed by his father, on the property he shared with his first wife, Cindy, and their son, Riley Hawk. Hawk is descended from Henry Hudson, discoverer of the Hudson River. Although his son's full name is Hudson Riley Hawk, since his birth coincided with the release of the movie Hudson Hawk, they decided to start calling him Riley. The Hawks's home was considered a complete playland. Riley (born December 6, 1992) performed skateboarding stunts for the movie "Max Keeble's Big Move."

Hawk divorced Cindy in 1993 and married his second wife, Erin Lee, on September 28, 1996; they had 2 sons and divorced in 2004. Hawk entered his third marriage with his then girlfriend, Lhotse Merriam, on January 12, 2006 on the island of Fiji. Lhotse is Vice President of the International Free Skiers Association and a photographer.

Video games

In 1999, the video game publisher Activision released Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, which became the first game in one of the most successful lines of video games. The game has since spawned seven popular sequels: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, Tony Hawk's Underground and Tony Hawk's Underground 2, Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix, and newly released Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. The series has also seen numerous handheld games on the Game Boy Advance, as well as Nokia's ill-fated N-Gage game phone. Tony Hawk's American Sk8land for the Nintendo DS is the latest handheld release.

Books

In 2000 he wrote an autobiography entitled HAWK: Occupation: Skateboarder, which made it on to the New York Times bestseller list. He later wrote three more books: a young adult autobiography called Hawk, a road journal called Between Boardslides and Burnout and Tony Hawk: Professional Skateboarder.

Television

Hawk has become a household name, and has starred in commercials for a variety of companies, including Apple Computer and Domino's Pizza. He has also cameoed in television shows such as Cyberchase, Rocket Power, Sex and the City, Viva La Bam, Action, Max Steel, Sifl and Olly, The Simpsons, CSI: Miami, and on Punk'd where he was tricked into believing that his son lit an M-80 inside a bathroom, injuring one actress. Hawk also appeared in movies such as Jackass: The Movie, The New Guy, Haggard: The Movie, Max Keeble's Big Move, Lords of Dogtown, and Dogtown and Z-Boys, and has appeared as an actor in movies such as Gleaming the Cube and Police Academy 4. He has hosted a documentary, Video Game Invasion, which aired on GSN. Hawk appeared with Tom Kenny (Patchy the Pirate from SpongeBob SquarePants) to find Gary the snail around the world. Hawk has recently appeared in the latest 2006 Nickelodeon television movie Drake & Josh Go Hollywood.

Contest history

Gold|1995|Vert Singles Gold|1997|Vert Singles Gold|1997|Vert Doubles Gold|1998|Vert Doubles Gold|1999|Vert Doubles Gold|1999|Vert Best Trick Gold|2000|Vert Doubles Gold|2001|Vert Doubles Gold|2002|Vert Doubles Gold|2003|Vert Best Trick Silver|1995|Street Silver|1996|Vert Singles Silver|2001|Vert Best Trick Bronze|1996|Vert Singles Bronze|1999|Vert Singles Bronze|2002|Vert Best Trick

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