Why We Will Never Know Who Invented the Skateboard

Skateboarding has exploded on the scene overcompany owned by Frank Nasworthy, Cadillac
the last 4 decades and is more popular todayWheels, invented urethane skateboard wheels.
than it has ever been. Due to the innovation ofThese wheels made the skateboards much easier
such things as vert skating, this extreme sportto control and maneuver, and the popularity of
has created million of skaters worldwide andskateboards was again back on the rise.
many successful pro skaters who have made anIn the mid to late 70s, talented skateboarders
extremely lucrative career from it.such as Tony Alva and Jay Adams spawned a
However, no one really knows who invented thenew way of skateboarding involving tricks and
skateboard! Many people have tried to take creditspins, that no one had really even seen before.
for inventing the skateboard, but a patent wasWith this new style of extreme skating,
never filed, so no one was ever officially creditedskateboarding started to explode and in the 1980s
with creating it. Most experts seem to agree thatreally started to hit its zenith.
skateboarding got its start sometime around theIn the 80s ramp and street skating revolutionized
early to mid 50s in California. Surfers wanted tothe sport. Skateboarders created their own
"surf on the street", so many early skateboardsmakeshift ramps and even resorted to skating
were simply pieces of wood with wheels on them.and turning tricks in empty swimming pools.
However, the first person to actuallySkateboarding finally became a legit sport in 1995
manufacturer and sell skateboards was Bill Richard.when it was featured on ESPN in their first
He made a deal with the Chicago Roller Skateextreme games tournament. This lead to even
Company to produce the first set of skateboardmore exposure for the sport and in 1997,
wheels, which were then attached to woodenskateboarding was featured in the Winter X
boards. Other manufacturers started to jump ongames. Tony Hawk brought skateboarding into
the bandwagon and create skateboards thatthe mainstream culture in 1999, when a video
were designed to look like surf boards.game named after him was released to the public.
However, by the mid 60's the skateboardingToday skateboarding is as strong as ever and
craze had died off and sales of the boardswhile no one really knows who the inventor of
started to plummet. Many of the skateboardthe first board was, millions of skaters around the
manufacturers either folded up or turned theirworld owe him or her a great deal of gratitude
attention elsewhere. However, in 1972, aand thanks!