Rodney Mullen

Johnny Rodney Mullen (born August 17 1966 in Gainesville, Florida) is a professional skateboarder, and widely considered to be one of the most influential skateboarders in the history of the sport (Weyland, 2002, p.276). He is credited with the majority of ollie and flip tricks invented throughout the 1980s, including the flat-ground ollie (Mullen, 2004, p.115), the Kickflip, the 360 flip and the Heelflip, which are regularly performed in modern vertical and street skateboarding.

Early career - the 1970s and 1980s

Mullen started skateboarding at the age of 10,When his father (who had opposed his son's wishes) finally agreed to give Rodney a skateboard on condition that he always wore pads, and with the understanding that if he were to ever get hurt, he would have to quit. On January 1, 1977 he bought his first skateboard. His first sponsor was Bill Murray at Inland Surf Shop where Rodney used to skate in their carpark. He rode a Walker Skateboard in his first contest at Kona in Jacksonville in 1977, placing third in Boys Freestyle. The 11-year old attracted the attention of skateboard manufacturer Bruce Walker he became sponsored by Walker Skateboards (Mullen, 2004, p.52).

For the next 3 years, Rodney took first place in almost every contest he entered. His nearly 30 contest victories, mostly in Florida, culminated with a win at the Oceanside Nationals in May, 1979 in the 11-13 year old sponsored boys division (ibid, p.66). At this time, Rodney's coaching influence came primarily from Barry Zaritsky, a skateboard and fitness enthusiast, who encouraged a radical, training regimen from him. In 1980, the week of his 14th birthday, Rodney entered his first pro contest and won first place at the Oasis Pro in San Diego against the world champion at the time, Steve Rocco (ibid, p.91).

This win for Rodney solidified a new sponsorship for him with Powell Peralta, for whom he skated for the next 8 years. In early 1989, Mullen left Powell Peralta and bought out John Lucero to become a partner in World Industries with Steve Rocco. His tenure at World Industries marked the beginning of a shift in his skating career from freestyle to street skating. By the time of his shift, Rodney had won 34 out of 35 freestyle competitions he’d entered over the previous10 years. This is considered by many to be among the most successful runs in skateboard competition history ^{[citation needed]}.

Later career - the 1990s to 2000s

Throughout this period Mullen developed a highly technical version of street skating based on his freestyle experience. This approach was first seen in the Plan B video ‘Questionable’ from 1992 and Mullen has continued to develop his skating around a fusion of freestyle within a ‘street’ context. Mullen skated for various companies during the 1990s, but all of which were under the World Industries umbrella. As well as being a professional skater, Mullen started to design new products including the Tensor truck in 2000 [1]and shaping various World Industries’ pro decks.

In 2002 the World Industries companies, under the holding name Kubic Marketing were bought out by Globe International for $46 million. The Kubic management remained intact and Mullen began working for Globe International under the Dwindle Distribution brand with a pro model on Almost Skateboards [2].

2004 saw the announcement by Dwindle that it has been producing skateboard decks in China under the direction of Rodney Mullen. The justification given was “to better control our current product quality and develop new advanced products. All this, while simultaneously lowering the price on existing skate-deck products” [3].

In 2004 Mullen also penned an autobiography with the help of Sean Mortimer, the title being ‘The Mutt: how to skateboard and not kill yourself’.

Video Appearances

Mullen has been featured in many skateboarding videos including inter alia:

Powell Peralta: The Bones Brigade Video Show (1984)
Powell Peralta: Future-Primitive (1985)
Powell Peralta: The Search for Animal Chin (1986)
Powell Peralta: Public Domain (1988)
World Industries: Rubbish Heap (1989)
Plan B: Questionable (1992)
Plan B: Virtual Reality (1993)
Plan B: Second Hand Smoke (1994)
Plan B: The Revolution (1997)
World Industries: Rodney Mullen versus Daewon Song (1997)
World Industries: Round 2: Rodney Mullen versus Daewon Song (1999)
Globe Shoes: Opinion (2001)
Almost Skateboards: Round One, Two, and Three (2001-2005)

References

Brooke, M (1999). Concrete Wave: The History Of Skateboarding. ISBN 1-894020-54-5.
Mullen, R. & Mortimer, S. (2004) The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself, HarperCollins, New York. ISBN 0-06-055619-6
Walker, Bruce. Rodney's sponsor and coach from 1977 to 1980. oceanave@aol.com, http://www.floridaskater.com/floridaskater%20bruce%20walker%20profile.htm
Weyland, J (2002) The Answer is Never: A Skateboarder's History of the World Arrow, London. ISBN 0-09-943186-6

External links