Category: 1970s
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Ellen Oneal (Deason)
In May 1975, Ellen Oneal from San Diego, CA received a skateboard for her sixteenth birthday and began to translate her skill and athleticism from activities like gymnastics, bike-riding, ballet, body-surfing and water-skiing to skateboarding. As a guest columnist for Skateboard Journal (November 1977), Ellen contributed some of her back story. She said, “My own…
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Jodie Cooper
In the May 1979 issue of Skateboarder there’s an article about a skate contest in Albany, Australia, located on the southwest coast which had a surprise competitor being the now-legendary surfer Jodie Cooper! If you don’t know Jodie, she was the surfing stunt double in the 1991 cult-classic film Point Break and was a fearless…
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Vicki Vickers
While attending the National Surfing Championships in Port Isabel, Texas, Vicki Vickers at age 14 overheard Dogtown skater, Nathan Pratt declare that “Girls Can’t Skate.” At age 18, in her Who’s Hot!” article within the December 1978 issue of Skateboarder she told Jim Goodrich that she took Pratt’s comment seriously and immediately started skateboarding! Vickers…
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Gina Esperanza
Gina [Esparza?] Esperanza appeared to be a prodigy skateboarder in the late 1970s, based out of San Diego with her home skatepark being “Skateboard Heaven” in Spring Valley. She was a competitor in both Freestyle and Pool and would pick up a sponsorship from Hobie. Skateboard Heaven had a variety of bowls, snake run, clover…
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Pam Judge
PJ McKenzie (AKA Pam Judge) was Canada’s first female National Champion winning the 1977 and 1978 championships, which would result in sponsorship by Gordon & Smith (G&S) – a leading skateboarding company in the U.S. If there was a Canadian Skateboarding Hall of Fame, PJ would have my vote! While I can get riled up…
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Cindy Whitehead
Cindy Whitehead was inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame in 2016 for both her accomplishments as a professional skater and her relentless advocacy for women in skateboarding that continues today. She spearheads the skateboarding movement “Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word,” which includes a website, archive, interviews, social media, and publications It’s Not…
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Di Dootson Rose
I recently learned about the term “archival silence” and it absolutely resonated in regard to women in skateboarding. It also reminded me that I wanted to extend gratitude to Di Dootson Rose, the legendary editor of the National Skateboard Review (1976-1979) and the efforts that went into archiving and digitizing this motherload of incredible content…
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Sheenagh Burdell
Sheenagh Burdell may not be a household name in North America, but her impact as a British skateboarding legend is being recognized in the U.K. and needs to be represented here. Dave Arnold in his interview with Sheenagh for The Skateboarder’s Companion explained that “in the UK in the late 70s there were virtually no…
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Leslie Jo Ritzma
Leslie Jo Ritzma from Redondo Beach, California started skateboarding in 1964 at age 7. “I made my own skateboard in 2nd grade from some roller skates and ended up breaking my arm… Roller skate wheels nailed onto a 2 by 4.” The injury didn’t deter her, and in 1977 at age 20, Leslie Jo decided…
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Deanna Calkins
In 2020, Deanna Calkins was inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame and her bio provides a thorough history of her impact. What is also worth noting is how Deanna advocated for amateur women skateboarders and was part of the massively popular Wednesday “Girls Night” events in the late 1970s at Runway skatepark in Carson,…
Womxn Skateboard History 