I'm back and was enjoying the memories of the good old skool days of Whittier, being amateur and making my way up the ladder to the pro level of the Bones brigade. I have to say that Stacy Peralta was the biggest thing since peanut butter. Everyone got nervous when he showed up to the park. I remember buying a neon Powell deck from him at Upland in the parking lot. I was sooo stoked. The Brite Lite Series was the most exhilarating memory of that era for me. Make's me so happy to even think about it. Caballero's Caballarial was not even real. I saw him do them in the original combi pool at Upland and it was gnarly. Still can't believe it. Once I became the manager at Whittier and started skating with Lance, Blender, Kasai, Lucero daily, I began to understand the concept of you're a product of your environment. The energy was just insane and so positive. Whittier had to of been the best scene ever. Tracker trucks was the truck company to ride for then, lol oh how things have changed. Larry Balma was an awesome owner. Being on Tracker trucks was the best.
Once getting picked up by Powell, I became electrified and starting learning on a super fast rate. I was the amateur from hell lol. I skated in every event, freestyle, slalom, bank slalom, bowl, pool. It didn't matter, I entered it. That really helped me to learn how to skate under pressure or when you had to skate. I love going fast, speed is my addiction. So the faster you go means the higher you're going to go, so that in turn means everything is going to be on a big scale. Christian Hosoi was always the smoothest and went the highest. He really inspired me to want to blast. Christian is a super nice person also. Always was mellow and easy to talk to. My first contests started with Kevin Staab always beating me barely. Lol. I always laugh at that though. Even at my home park- Whittier I let him beat me by falling on my last trick which was a frontside invert.. lol.. that makes it even worse lol.. I love Kevin Staab, though. I was always mad at Stacy because Kevin and I where the next Ams in line, who were supposed to get Pro Models. It ended up I was the only one and I had to force Stacy to give me a model. Kevin ended up riding for Sims. I almost went to Vison, but decided to start my own company with Jim Ball from sure grip. Steadham Design SGI instead. Anyways my last Am contest was at Upland. I won every event, pipe pasting, bank slalom, longest carve, highest air, longest boardslide and the next day was the Pros.
Told Stacy I was turning Pro the next day and he said "No" lol your staying Am. I was like wow, Really? He said if I'm turning Pro, I had to pay for my own entry fee. I was devastated but said yeah wtvr, I guess I'm paying for myself tomorrow. Stacy looked at me like he had seen a ghost.. lol a black ghost hahahaa of course not a white one hehe. He couldn't believe I went against his plan. I think he is a brilliant mind and knew how to tune us to succeed. So the next day I turned Pro. Stacy actually stood beside me and talked to me during the prelims. Even though he didn't want me to turn Pro, I sensed he was impressed that I made up my own mind and did what I knew was the right thing for me. I was the top amateur with nowhere to go but down. I ended up skating the best I have ever skated. I fell on 1 run out of 8. Ended up in 4th place and was in the top 4 the entire contest. I won the longest carve, boardslide, pipe pasting and bank slalom that day. I think I was the best skater on earth that day. Not to sound stuck on myself at all, just stating the facts. I have never skated that much in 2 days in my entire life.
I must state being on the Bones Brigade has been the best experience of my life. To be on the same team with Steve Caballero, Tony Hawk, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain and Rodney Mullen and being black was surreal. I mean I had dreads and was so different than everyone else. I bring up the color card because back then, it wasn't even realistic to win in front of the entire industry and consistently. You had to perform being on the Bones Brigade. If you didn't want to try 100%, your mind still made you skate 110% because of being a major part of the Bones Brigade. I lived skateboarding. Chose not to go to college to skate and I have to say, it was the best decision I ever made. I never for 1 second ever thought I could ever be a pro let alone a top pro and win against the best. I have to mention my first inspiration - Marty Grimes, Tank from Upland and Freddie Desoto. All of these guys are awesome and made me see something. Skateboarding is something you do, doesn't matter what color, ethnic background or financial class your in. For my last comment to end my 2nd blog. God is Amazing, Without him, I would be nothing.
]]>Skateboarding Las Vegas in the late 70's was a mirage of ancient dreams of spillways, ditches and riding them on small gadgets we called skateboards.
I had ridden BMX for a few years, and that was a blast, but I was introduced to skateboarding by a friend that did a lot of 360's on the sidewalk...he was so awesome to me.
Somehow I acquired a yellow Cadillac board that was just so cool and, thinking back, I can't really remember what ever happened to that board, it was the best board I ever had. At the time, I was wrestling on the varsity team in high school and skating was a part time hobby. I would take the bus way across town to the last stop and then walk 2 miles in the hot desert to this spillway way out past the Tropicana Hotel. I can't believe I did that in 110 degree weather in the middle of the day. Once I arrived there I would always see about 5-10 guys skating and they would look at me like I was lost... as if saying "Ummm hey kid, the basketball courts are in town." Of course, after going through all that trouble just to get to the spot, I would stay and skate for a few hrs and it wasn't long before the others warmed up and were cool to me.
It was so weird to get these odd stares from white skaters which really was from day one of my time skateboarding. The funniest part of this experience was that my black friends would say I was an oreo and I was trippin'; "black people don't skate!" hahaha. So, you see, I got it from both sides of the coin; I knew then that I was going to embrace skating as my own beloved alien spacecraft that would take me off of the God forsaken Planet and I would not let anyone take that away from me.
After a year of cruising around part time, I hear about this place called the dust bowl. So, me and some friends went to check it out, by that time I had met Joe Calzon, who was an early influence on me, and we skated a lot and pushed each other. Anyways, we went to this place called the dust bowl and. Oh my gosh, it was this huge empty pool and, even with a big pile of dirt just sitting in the middle of it, dudes where shredding it to pieces...up until that time, I had never seen anything like that ever.
Looking back, that day was like the best day of my life, Kenny Coobs, Jack and some other guys where the Kings, and it was on that day I knew I was going to be part of skateboarding for life.
I started skating more and more and finally decided to take a trip out to California...my first destination? Upland aka The Badlands, the King of the Kings of skateparks!
There before me was the now mythical Combi Pool, Steve Alba, Mickey Alba, Tank, Chris Miller where so freaking good! As a newly arrived grom, I felt a bit intimidated and could barely bring myself to look at them when they skated by...Steve Alba was, and continues to be, my Idol, "Le Machine", is one of skateboarding's elite pioneers and even to this day, no one could skate the Combi like he did, or even the replica of the Combi at the Van's skatepark which exists today. Though, don't tell Steve, but Mickey was always my favorite. One of today's great masters, Chris Miller, was a just a tiny little rugrat who skated so fast and smooth it was funny, he was better than everyone else.
That was it, I had to make this place a part of my life, so I would start to take the greyhound out to Cali for two days at a time. Whittier was the new spot, tons of sick pools with the likes of Lester Kasai, one of the best skaters ever, John Lucero, Lance Mountain and Neil Blender, who was perhaps the funniest person I've ever met, being the local standouts. Though he is an incredibly talented artist, sometimes, I'm surprised Blender didn't become a comedian and rule the galaxy with his avant garde, genius humor.
It wasn't long before I went to the Gold Cup at Upland and saw Steve Caballero and Duane Peters, the master of disaster, in action. They were unreal, Cab was 3.5 feet tall doing tricks no one could, the Caballerial at the time was like witnessing a magician's trick, I think he hypnotized everyone there literally, because we all thought he did a fakie 360...that trick was not possible. I'll never forget how Steve signed my board when I was too afraid to even ask him. It was then and there, that day, he made me want to be a pro skater and, only three years later, I was in the finals skating against him, Miller, Mountain, Hosoi and Kasai...I loved Upland! I had been given the nickname "freight train" and on the day I turned pro at upland, I skated in every event; Pipe, Bank, Slalom, Longest Boardslide, Longest Carve and the pool comp. I won every event except for the pool, which I placed 4th. That was the first day I was on top of the skateboarding world.
Whittier had the whole package; Full Pipe, Clover, Big Pools, Capsule, Small Bowls, Half Pipes etc. That's where I ended up becoming a local and eventually the manager at the pro shop...best job I've ever had, until I founded my own company. I'll never forget doing backflips in the high ball courts with Neil Blender, his inverts are still the sickest, he was the master of them all; Andrechts, Tuck Knees, Egg Plants, etc. Everything was over your head cause he is so tall. I actually think Neil blender was one of the most underrated skaters in skateboarding, but it's good to see how the new generations have discovered the importance of his role in our history.
Skating with Lance Mountain, John Lucero, Kasai, Blender is really the reason I was able to get so good. These guys where so cool, down to earth and would get you to skate with them. When Brad Bowman would come and skate I would go hide far away and stare at his magnetizing blue eyes; he had the sickest flow ever, the smoothest style. Darrell Miller did board slides around the entire pool...literally, I couldn't count all the blocks! He came one day and it was just him and I skating the keyhole...he was so cool to me and it is because of Darrell that I had to learn some of the longest board slides in the biz. I often like to feel that it was, on that day, he passed the boardslide torch on to me. That has to be the most fun trick ever, besides landing 7 ft airs.
But, as with everything, times change, and we entered into the dreaded age of insurance lawsuits which resulted in 95% of all the skateparks being closed, it was the saddest part of my life and, I think, the skateboard world's as well. But, it wouldn't be long before skateboarding rose up through the ashes like a phoenix, because the resurrection of the sport through backyard vert ramps had begun.
I moved to San Diego to skate Del Mar Skate Ranch and was kindly accepted by the locals who made me one of their own. Though I didn't like that tiny 9 ft. high pool with 100 feet of flat bottom, all of the local crew where awesome; Tony Hawk, Owen Nieder, Dave Swift, photographer Grant Brittain, Todd Swank and so many more. Awesome people and friends who welcomed me into their scene, but I did think, at the time, Owen Neider hated me though...I was the guy who blasted the raddest hardcore band to ever grace the planet, Bad Brains, at poolside all day long. hahaha!
It wasn't long after, that I was able to get a job at Uncle Wiggley's making skateboards and I loved it! I would make boards all day and then go to Del Mar to skate every afternoon.
That's it, how it all began and, for now, this is the end of my first episode/installment into my blog. I will jump around different timelines which have relevance to what is on my mind and spill the beans on everything I can remember from back then and now, there's soooo many memories!
I hope you all are having an insanely awesome day :) . Until next week. God Bless...
]]>I am so excited to launch the final chapter in the long history of my brand. This site has everything I am about, tons of products ranging from Skateboards, Shoes, Apparel, Coffee and Music interests.
I personally have developed everything. Each and every product is top quality and is because of this quality, I personally stand behind each and every product. I hope you, whether you be a new customer or a life-long fan who has supported me throughout the years, will enjoy this website and the things the STEDMZ brand has to offer.
Customer assurance, satisfaction and respect are at the top of my list.
Blessings to all,
Steve Steadham
]]>