Kevin Staab
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Kevin Staab is an American professional skateboarder.He started skating in 1975 at the age of 8 or 9,and first started frequenting the Carlsbad Pipeline Skatepark, reputedly the first skatepark built in California.
Other parks he went on to skate regularly included Moving On and Oasis,Tony Hawk's first local park,where he saw and was inspired by older,big-name skaters like Steve Cathay. Living in San Diego at the time meant that he knew of the Del Mar Skate Ranch as soon as the "coming soon..." signs went up,and skated it from opening-day onwards.
However,after he finished Junior High School he and his family moved to Arizona,where luckily there was a park to skate,albeit a closed one-he and plenty of others just hopped the fences and skated as long as they could.
When the iron blade finally fell on the place Kevin was fortunate enough to meet another new-kid-in-town,Sam Mesmore from Colorado,who had just finished building a large halfpipe in his parent's backyard,and it was here that Kevin honed his skills until he returned to California in the mid-'80's where he was able to become an early amature member of the Bones Brigade,an ambition he had set his sights on at an early age.During his tenure on the team he made tantalizingly brief appearances in their first three videos,The Bones Brigade Video Show,Future Primitive,and The Search For Animal Chin. Feeling frustrated with the pace of things at Powell Peralta,Kevin accepted an offer of a pro model deal from Sims,with whom he remained loyal until his retirement in the early 1990's.
His "mad scientist" board proved to be a top seller and his profile increased substantially, allowing him to tour extensively,reaching the UK first in 1986 and again in 1987(with Joe Johnson and Mark Gonzales who ollied the Meanwhile 2 gap on this visit;"That's one of the raddest things I've ever seen",said Kevin at the time),the latter visit showcasing his new "pirate" board graphics which have recently been reissued by his current sponsor Punk Rock Skateboards.
During his pro career Staab was instantly recognisable,both by his long brown hair and distinctively stickered helmet,and by his tendency for overdressing-rarely did one see his shins,arms or fingers while he skated! As his original board graphics suggested,Kevin was an inventive skater.Hanging out with Tony Hawk,both socially and at Del Mar Skate Ranch evidently inspired him,and his innovations include the original (grabbed) blunt to fakie,the Illusion (Lien air,then grab Roast Beef and varial it),the Nollie to fakie(initially known as the "Oliver") and the backside Nollie too.He can also lay claim to being,along with Eddie 'El Gato' Elguera,one of the originators of the Fakie Ollie. In addition to new moves,Staab was also one of the first skaters to start increasing the length of his deck's nose,allowing him to ride it backwards when necessary,and helped encourage the advent of nose-oriented moves that began appearing in the late 1980's,such as nose stalls/slides,crooked grinds,half nabs,etc.
In 1989 Staab,with his team mate Joe Johnson founded "90" clothing,which proved very popular for two years,falling out of favour as soon as 1990 ended(who wants last year's date writ large across your shirt when you're trying to stay fashionable?).
After his professional skate career fizzled out under the onslaught of the street skating boom,Staab largely disappeared from view and indulged his other life's passion, namely punk and indie rock,until joining Tony Hawk on his Gigantic Skatepark Tour of 2000,where he demonstrated just how much life there still was in the old dog by spinning his first McTwist in nearly a decade.
In 2005 he made the cover of the esteemed skate journal Concrete Wave Magazine and enjoyed a spotlight feature inside(oldly conducted in the third person).
