Category: 1970s

  • Cheryl Thornton

    Cheryl Thornton

    Cheryl Thornton, age 12 from Fort Worth, Texas was competing against the boys at a skateboard contest in May 1977 and came 2nd in Freestyle! The photo was taken by Rodger Mallison showcasing Cheryl holding onto a laid-back handstand, which she received a trophy for. Photos of her competitors Michael Clay (14) and Jerome Willet…

  • Lisa Muir

    Lisa Muir

    Lisa Muir Wakley is a legendary surfer based out of Pensacola, Florida who also competed in skateboarding. In an interview by Professor Steve Estes on southern surfing in June 2017, it was shared that Lisa “was born in 1955 on Rantoul Air Force Base in Illinois. Her dad was a hurricane hunter in the Air…

  • Cyndy Pendergast

    Cyndy Pendergast

    Cyndy Pendergast was a confident skater in the Mid-West in the 1970s and 1980s and is listed as a “notable member” of the Turf skateboard park on a Wikipedia page. Her name is included along with a host of male skaters, and the legendary Pattie Hoffman. The Turf, (aka “Surfin’ Turf”) was in Greenfield, Wisconsin…

  • Suzette Owens

    Suzette Owens

    Suzette Owens was a competitive freestyle skateboarder out of Long Beach, California in the late 1970s. I was reminded of Suzette during a recent interview with Kim Adrian, as they were good friends at the time being slightly older. While the two preferred skating different terrain, they had the common bond of knowing how to…

  • Marilyn Latta

    Marilyn Latta

    Marilyn Latta (not to be confused with Michelle Matta) was featured in a two-page interview in June 1978 for the Wild World of Skateboarding magazine. Marilyn was age 16 at the time and from Malibu, CA, dreaming of following the professional path like her heroes Ellen Berryman and Terry Brown. Richard Taylor wrote, “Marilyn has…

  • Sussi Berglund

    Sussi Berglund

    Sussi Berglund (Mabbe) of Stockholm, Sweden was skateboarding in her teens and even appeared in a local newspaper performing a handstand in 1978 at age 16, evidently having a great time along with friend Henrik. Based on her Facebook profile, she enjoyed both freestyle and mini-ramp, along with friend Agneta Grapne. With consistent practise, the…

  • Leigh Parkin

    Leigh Parkin

    Leigh Parkin (Blake) was a Del Mar Skate Ranch local who began skateboarding in the 1970s and competed strongly in the early 1980s. In an email, Leigh shared that, “I was first introduced to skateboarding from an older brother, we would skate at the middle school and the curbs by our house, I was probably…

  • Beth Fishman

    Beth Fishman

    Beth Fishman appeared in a four-page spread within the April 1978 issue of Wild World of Skateboarding after winning the SKAbo ESA Eastern Skateboard Championships held over three days in October 1977 at The Asbury Park Casino Arena in New Jersey. Her win was against all boys since there were no other girls competing beside…

  • Kate the Skate

    Kate the Skate

    “Kate the Skate” was the name of a column dedicated to women in skateboarding within the British magazine called Skateboard Scene from January 1978 (issue 3) until August 1978 (issue 9), for a total of seven features. Under the list of Editorial Staff appears the name Kate “Kicktail” Mahony as Assistant Editor. Kate now lives…

  • MaryAnne Uyemura

    MaryAnne Uyemura

    MaryAnne Aquino Torres Uyemura was the first female member on the Pepsi Skateboard team in the Philippines from the ages of nine to eleven in the years 1978-1980. She was living in Manila and instantly fell in love with skateboarding. MaryAnne wrote, “I have an older brother who borrowed a skateboard, and he showed me…