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Mark Gonzales

American skateboarder (born 1968)

Mark Gonzales (born June 1, 1968), also known as "Gonz", "the Gonz", and "the Godfather", is an American professional skateboarder and artist. A pioneer in the development of modern street skating, he is considered one of the first street-style skateboarders alongside Natas Kaupas.2

From Wikipedia’s article on Mark Gonzales (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Jun 1, 1968.1

About

Gonzales and Kaupas are also credited with the first known boardslides on a handrail. Gonzales' pioneering influence on skateboarding has caused him to be known as the "God Father" of modern street skateboarding, and he was named the "Most Influential Skateboarder of All Time" by Transworld Skateboarding magazine in December 2011, where Gonzales was placed ahead of Tony Hawk (2nd) and Rodney Mullen (3rd).

From Wikipedia’s article on Mark Gonzales, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

Gonzales was born in South Gate, California, and is of Irish and Mexican descent. Gonzales's first time ever skating was with his cousin's board at the age of 8.

From Wikipedia’s article on Mark Gonzales (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: visual artist, skateboarder, screenwriter, poet, artist.4

Gonzales entered the skateboarding scene at the age of thirteen in South Gate, California, U.S. At the age of fifteen, Gonzales would come in to contact with Tommy Guerrero and Natas Kaupas who were developing their own styles of progressive street skating. Gonzales began pioneering a modern, innovative approach to skateboarding in a street context (subsequently dubbed "street skateboarding") His street skating actives included taking freestyle and vert tricks and employing them in a street context, developments which would end up causing Gonzales to be credited as one of the inventors of street skateboarding. He was featured on the cover of Thrasher magazine's November 1984 issue riding a board from the Alva company, his board sponsor at the time, while performing a trick known as a "beanplant".

Vision, Blind and ATM Click

Shortly after his Thrasher magazine cover, Gonzales then joined the Vision skateboard team and entered his first contest as a professional in May 1985 at the 'Sacto Streetstyle Contest' held in Sacramento, California. Soon after turning pro, Gonzalez won the 1985 NSA Sure-Grip Beach Style contest held adjacent to the pier in Oceanside, California.

In 1989, Gonzales left Vision and co-founded Blind Skateboards with Steve Rocco. The company name was chosen as a slight on his former employer, Vision. Gonzales proceeded to further influence the progression of street skateboarding with the 1991 Blind Skateboards video Video Days Directed by Spike Jonze, Video Days is often credited as the most important skate video of all time. Starring Gonzales alongside Rudy Johnson, Jason Lee, Guy Mariano and Jordan Richter, Video Days paved the way for modern street skateboarding. Whilst at Blind, Gonzales also designed the original Blind Skateboards logo which is still used today. Gonzales would leave Blind in 1993, after experiencing frustrations that were similar to his time with Vision.

Gonzales then started another company called ATM Click and followed it with a venture with Ron Chatman called 60/40 who sponsored future Menace skaters Fabian Alomar and Joey Suriel. In 1993, Gonzales created controversy after he appropriated a Vision design that was used for one of his signature model boards for an ATM Click design; Gonzales then proceeded to also use the graphic for Real and Krooked signature skateboard models following his move to Deluxe Distribution.

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Deluxe Distribution

Under the Deluxe Distribution company, Gonzales skated for Real Skateboards and appeared in three of the company's videos: Kicked Out of Everywhere, Non Fiction, and Real to Reel. In 2002, Gonzales then launched Krooked Skateboards in partnership with the Deluxe company and, as of February 2016, Krooked is an operational company that has released four full-length videos.

In 2007, Gonzales appeared in the skateboarding video game EA Skate and filmed a commercial to promote the game's release.

Sponsorship

As of 2013, Gonzales was sponsored by adidas, Krooked, Spitfire, Independent, and Supreme. In 2016, Gonzales joined the Pro-Tec skate team.

Influence

In the summer of 1986 Gonzales performed an ollie from one wall down to another platform at Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco, U.S. and the obstacle had been known as the "Gonz Gap" since his completion of the trick; the trick also helped to popularize The Embarcadero as a location for skateboarding. Later that year, Gonzales - along with fellow progressive street skater Natas Kaupas - was the first person to skate handrails. Gonzales was also the first person to ollie the Wallenberg Set, a four-block, nineteen feet-long, four feet-tall gap in San Francisco, California, US.

In reference to the early era of street skateboarding, professional skateboarder Mike Vallely stated in a 2007 interview: "At the time, the best street skaters in the world were Mark Gonzales, Jesse Martinez, Tommy Guerrero, who all three were Mexican kids, and Natas Kaupas, who was a Lithuanian dude that lived at the beach in Santa Monica." In an interview for the Adidas website, Gonzales explained in reply to a question about his influence with the Blind company, "I wanted to work with my big brother doing construction—at the time I felt old, but had a young chick."

In 2006 Gonzales was awarded the Legend Award by Transworld Skateboarding, and the magazine selected him as the most influential skateboarder of all time (followed by Tony Hawk and Rodney Mullen) in December 2011.

From Wikipedia’s article on Mark Gonzales (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Personal life

  • BornJun 1, 1968, South Gate5
  • CitizenshipUnited States6

As of 2024, Gonzales resides in Paris and New York City, with his wife, Tia, and their two children.

From Wikipedia’s article on Mark Gonzales (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Sources

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