Wendy Bedell (Sprague) was a skateboarder from Hawaii, featured in the February 1978 issue of Skateboard World with a photo of her landing a kickflip at ‘A’ala Park in Honolulu by Don Bradburn. More recently, thanks to her co-worker who decided to Google search Wendy when she mentioned her skateboarding background, Wendy and I connected and had a conversation on January 23, 2024, providing a full back-story to the magazine photo!
Wendy was born on the windward side of Honolulu, where she currently lives after purchasing her family home. Back in the 1970s, skateboarding was booming in popularity and once skateboard designs improved with larger trucks and urethane wheels, Wendy really embraced it. In 1977, she was bombing hills with her good friends Lori and Kim, who had a large, smooth driveway perfect for practising 360s, nose wheelies and “walk-the-dog.” Wendy took to freestyle because “I was a gymnast, and I had a lot of balance, so I could do nose wheelies and tail wheelies for a long time.”
The friends soon ventured down to a park in Pearl City, where the original Town & Country (T&C) Surf shop was located, and rapidly improved by witnessing freestyle in action. And then she met Paul Mattis who owned the skate shop Cobra Skates in Honolulu’s Chinatown, across from ‘A’ala Park. “He took care of us and basically sponsored us and gave us all skateboards. And I was riding a Santa Cruz skateboard back in the day and a Powerflex, and a Sims. He had all these different skateboards and we tried them out… And that’s how the skateboard rodeo came about.”
It was at the Pepsi Skateboard Rodeo in Oahu that Don Bradburn noticed Wendy’s skating, pulled out a pencil and paper and started interviewing her for Skateboard World. Wendy shared that she had been surfing for several years until she discovered skateboarding. “I’m mostly into freestyle. Handstands, some 360s, kickflips. But I like bowl riding too.” A bowl she enjoyed skating was in Maui called The Toilet Bowl. “Hardly anyone rides there. It’s a sort of reservoir with a roof. Aside from the bowl, skateboarding’s pretty dead on Maui. Some days I’ll go there and ride it by myself with no bust whatsoever.”
In the article, Wendy was wearing elbow and knee pads, as apparently, she had a pretty nasty wipe-out after bombing down a mile-long hill in Kona. Wendy told Don that she was studying at a college in Maui, skateboarding, and working as a waitress. In our interview, Wendy recalled competing in a bank riding event, the slalom race, and the Specialty Event and “the reason why they called it that is because you were timed, and you had to do a certain amount of tricks. And because I was a gymnast I could pull that handstand off, and that’s how I won my trophies!”
Another highlight for Wendy was cruising all the way down Waikiki, in and out of the turrets, just living the dream with her friends. As well, being filmed for a Japanese commercial, while jumping over a bunch of Suntory pop bottles! If anyone has a video clip, that would be amazing to see. And it was Paul Mattis who was lining up these opportunities, and likely has a stash of photos from the era if he can be found.
In the photo of Wendy in the orange shirt, she’s competing in slalom in Aloha:
Wendy couldn’t remember the name of the contest but it was at the Aloha stadium, and she was up against a girl named Michelle, who was quite good. I suspect it was Michelle Kenney who was originally from New Zealand before moving to Hawaii, riding for the Skyhooks Pepsi Safety Team at age 13 in 1978 and living near ‘A’ala Park.
‘A’ala Park had history as a roller derby rink before becoming a skateboarder’s mecca. It had a famous bank, which would eventually be the training grounds for 1990s legend Jaime Reyes, who landed a 360 flip on the transition, which resulted in the cover of Thrasher for the April 1994 issue, by Scott Starr!
Here’s a little video from 2013, when ‘A’ala Park was getting a clean-up:
With her athletic background, Wendy would go on to pursue a whole range of fun sports including Jet Ski racing, even joining a team that would jump the waves on the North Shore, and water skiing!
These days, Wendy works as a Phys-Ed teacher in an elementary school – a French academy with many students who are passionate about skateboarding, which Wendy supports 100%! Wendy believes that skateboarding includes a growth mindset with goal setting that requires persistence and perseverance, which is ideal for young people! And, I happen to agree.
Thanks again, Wendy for taking time to talk with me.
References:
- Don Bradburn, “New Faces: Wendy Bedell,” Skateboard World, February 1978.
- Wendy (Bedell) Sprague, personal interview, January 23, 2024.
Womxn Skateboard History 