Rebecca Williams

Rebecca Williams started skateboarding in 1976 at age 24 after she had her twin boys. Back in the 70s, it was pretty exceptional for a mom to compete in skateboarding, and Rebecca was probably considered geriatric back then for a skater! 

Rebecca was married to pro skater Mike Williams who was known for designing Gullwing and Phoenix trucks, and Rebecca listed Gullwing and Quiksilver as her sponsors. Rebecca competed in slalom, and in June 1976 she took 1^st place in Women 18 and over at the YMCA contest race held at La Costa. A few months later at the Thousand Oaks Contest, she placed third in Women’s slalom

Di Dootson reported on the scene at La Costa for Skateboarder magazine, and in the fall of 1976 Rebecca repeatedly appeared in the results up against the guys.

• October 17^th placed 13^th in Giant Slalom and 9^th in Slalom
• October 24^th placed 7^th in Slalom
• October 31^st placed 12^th in Slalom
• November 4^th placed 11^th in Slalom
• November 21^st placed 12^th in Slalom

Rebecca also won the July 1977 dual slalom competition in Breckenridge called “Another Roadside Attraction” against eight other women.

1978 was a great year for Rebecca, starting out with an interview and photos by Chuck Saccio in the February issue of Skateboard World. Rebecca explained that she wasn’t content to just sit on the sidelines with her kids, watching her husband race. “I had too much energy to just sit and watch. Plus, I wanted to share with Mike his love for the sport.” Slalom seemed like a great fit to find that adrenaline rush, since Rebecca noted that Freestyle routines took hours of practice, which was time she didn’t have.

Rebecca was filmed skateboarding in a TV commercial and was part of the cast in “Skateboard” (Dir. George Gage, 1978) as a contest skater. She was also one of five women who were featured on an International Skateboard Association (ISA) trading card in 1978, along with Deanna Calkins, Gale Webb, Ellen Berryman, and Kim Cespedes.

While her partner, Mike progressed into bowl and pool, and Gullwing trucks persevered over the decades, there’s limited documentation of Rebecca after the 1970s.

A fun fact about Gullwing is that the renowned skateboard photographer, Jim Goodrich became the Team Manager in 1980! He took the photo below of the team… all I want to know is who was the female rider?

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