Imprint: The Age Of Innocence

Steve Berra on Tony Hawk - Excerpt from “The Skateboard Magazine”

***Reprinted by Stefanie Connolly***

I met Tony Hawk through another fellow Nebraskan named Kevil Wilkins when i was sixteen.

I moved into Tony’s house and started riding for Birdhouse when i was eighteen. Tony Hawk was 23.

I had a lot happen in the ten months i lived there.

I thought to myself at the time, “Daaaamn, Tony’s old.”

He had two houses, well, three, actually, but the third had two other owners, I think, which meant it was part his. He had two cats (Danny and Didder), two dogs (Frank and Nancy), two cars (Honda and Lexus), two types of ramps (vert and mini), and one wife (Cindy).

I arrived with $40 to my name.

I was a part of the orginal four who quit their sponsors start Bridhouse, Tony, Jeremy Klein, Willy Santos, and myself.

I learned switch kickflips in his driveway as Jeremy Klein and Dan Rogers laughed at me from the window each time I would miss one and get mad.

I made prank calls from Tony’s kitchen with Jeremy Klein to every pro skater we could get a number on.

I drew phallic symbols with Jeremy Klein on Willy Santos’ forehead with Cindys lipstick while Willy was sleeping.

I drove Tony’s car more than he did and at times utilized it to teach Eric Koston how to drive a stick shift.

I became, what I thought, talented at signing his name because he gave me his Chevron card to use everytime i needed to get gas while driving his car. I could never get away with it now, he’s too famous.

I met Bucky Lasek, one of my biggest influences.

I had two “first and onlys” that stick out in my mind; I got stung by a bee, and i skated with Gator. Actually the Gator session was a few years prior, before i lived there but still noteworthy.

I knew his father, Frank. I’m not too sure if he liked me, but I certainly thought he was a formidable man.

I turned pro.

I got paid $500 a month.

I got a carpool lane ticket with a minimum fine of $271 and didn’t pay it, so they doubled it to $535, which I did pay on a payment plan.

I had a bedroom that i always kept nice and messy.

I drank Crystal Geyser carbonated fruit drinks which I thought was really high class.

I cried while looking for his cat I accidently let out of the house one night, thinking she was dead.

I met the girl who later became the mother of my daughter.

I talked to my cousin on the phone for the last time while in Tony’s office/computer room.

I only entered Tony’s bathroom, adjacent to his room, once.

I had girls spend the night.

I took four dollars i found in a pair of Tony’s jeans while doing the laundry so i could play video games. Fuckin’ thief.

I ate for free.

I often got upset about stupid things because I was a lousy house guest.

I hid tears in my eyes when told Jeremy Klein and I that he was going to retire soon and not manufacture his board.

I was the third or fourth person Tony told when he found out he was going to have a baby (Riley).

I helped Tony and Bucky rescue a woman after she rolled her car in a rainstorm on our way home from Santa Barbara.

I ate at Fuddrucker’s for the last time ever.

I ate lunch with Jason Lee, Mark Gonzales, and Tony, nervous the entire time.

I went with Tony to Irvine when he met with Lance Mountain to talk about the start up of Birdhouse and the Firm. I couldn’t sit it on their meeting so he let me drive his Lexus to a girl’s house I knew nearby. I was super nervous. I was probably late picking him up. No, I’m sure I was.

I opened my first bank account at the same bank he banked at.

I met Craig Stecyk. He was really nice to me. Nowadays, he doesn’t acknowledge my existence.

I used to skate the mini ramp with Eric Koston and Alphonzo Rawls.

I was part of a crew that found the dead hawk in his backyard the day after Birdhouse started. Some of us thought it was an omen. Tony thought it flew too close to the electrical wires and got fried.

I was the worst at doing tricks on a blank deck while jumping on the trampoline. Eric Koston was the best. Tony was a close second.

I auditioned for a Japanese potato chip commercial for a pair of young female casting directors with Willy Santos, Jeremy Klein, and Tony. Twelve years later those same casting directors are now casting a movie I wrote as well as a little movie you might have heard is going into production soon-Superman.

I saw Ray Underhill, Greg Smith, Chris Miller and Joe Johnson on a fairly regular basis.

I found out I had the same birthday as Tony’s first wife’s brother.

I had my nineteenth while living there. Tony had his 24th two days later.

I went on tour, just Tony and I, and had to drive around in the middle of the night looking for an ATM to get $300 out of his account so I could bail him out of jail after he got arrested for speeding in Tift County, Gerogia.

I loved when the Conklins and Bo Turner would stay at his house.

I left a mean note on Tony’s door telling him he forgot to leave the door unlocked and that I would be Alphonzo’s if he were to come home.

I was too much of a brat to really be his friend.

I yelled at him when I quit riding with Birdhouse a few months after i moved from his house.

I shed a tear while writing this.

I owe him.

I owe him.

I owe him.

I always will.

I wanted to be his friend, but at the same time didn’t want to depend on him for a career. I could be very stubborn like that.

I talked to him the last time I saw him. It was at a Pixies show in Pomona, California. The time before that, we weren’t really on speaking terms.

Twelve years have passed since I moved out. Between us, there’s been three marriages, four children, three surgeries, three shoe companies, two Birdhouse sponsorships, grey hair, loss of loved ones, loss of times, and lots of time spent not being friends.

I was eighteen when I moved from Nebraska into Tony Hawk’s house. Tony Hawk was 23. I thought to myself at the time “Daaaamn, Tony’s old.”

I’m 31 now, my last girlfriend was 23 and there were often times I thought to myself, “Daaaamn, she’s really young.”

I look at the young pros today like Kevin Long, Bryan Herman, and Paul Rodriguez and i wonder if they think, “Daaaamn Berra’s ancient.”

Maybe they do. Or maybe they’re not as cocky and inconsiderate as I was at their age.

Maybe.

"If you wanna hang with the big dogs you can’t piss like a pup."