The Day I Skated A Pool With Tony Hawk - In Real Life (Pics)

One day, as my friend and I were skating my local skatepark, (Vans Skatepark in Huntington Beach, CA) a familiar face walked in.

It was world-famous skateboarder, Tony Hawk, along with two photographers and Tony's friend, old school pro skater, Kevin Staab.

If you're not familiar with Tony Hawk, he is the most famous skateboarder in the world (due to his massive success as a winning skater, his subsequent "Tony Hawk Pro Skater" video games and his early exciting performances in the X Games) Tony has done a lot of good for skateboarding as he has risen in fame.

Had to get a pic with Tony Hawk!

Not only is he a great ambassador for skating, but he also founded the Tony Hawk Foundation to help fund and provide skateparks to communities that might not have a skatepark otherwise.

Clearly, they were there for a photo shoot, as we began to see several pieces of photography equipment unloaded and set up.

I was there, skating the pool with my old school friends, the locals of Vans HB, (as we call it) as we said Hi to Tony and kept on skating. (At 52, I am an older skater and Tony is actually a couple of years younger than me)

I thought it was cool that I rolled into the pool just before Tony did his first warm up run - I was skating with Tony Hawk!

This is a very similar moment to the image used on the cover of Pro Skater 5

The Cover Shot For Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 Game

Now, a little clarification is in order, because in most sports, you would not get to play with or against a world-famous "star" of that sport.

In fact, when I was telling my son-in-law about this encounter with Tony, he said: "That would be like me getting to play basketball with Michael Jordan!".

The superstars of sports are rarely that accessible by the public, let alone allow you to actually engage in the sport that they are known for!

But skateboarding is different...

It is not technically a "sport", but more of a "lifestyle" and a form of expression, (similar to surfing) and it is quite a bit more "democratic" than most sports.

Frontside Lien Air

When you skate a pool, the decorum is to take turns - only one person can skate the pool at a time - and that's how it worked on this day. Even though Tony was there to get the best shots he could, (and was technically there for "work") we all took turns skating and he didn't barge in more runs than the rest of us. I love that about skateboarding.

After awhile, I realized the coolness of the moment and started to take pics of the photo shoot.

The pics in this article are some of the better ones I got that day.

Blasting A Stalefish Frontside Air

Old school pro, Kevin Staab, blasting a massive backside air

It was an epic morning and one I won't soon forget.

The day I skated with Tony Hawk - in real life!