Category: Profile
-
Starla Stewart
In the Fall 1975 issue of Skateboard magazine a true sidewalk surfer named Starla Stewart entered the Huntington Beach City Festival contest. The results show that Starla placed first in the girls’ category ahead of Daisy Apodaca, and was 13 or 14 years old at the time. The photo of Starla skating barefoot in classic…
-
Christy Jordahl
My awareness of Christy Jordahl (Hurst) from Huntington Beach, CA began almost like an unfounded rumour. I had read an interview with Saecha Clarke in the magazine Check it Out back in 2005 who explained that she only knew two other female street skateboarders in the late 1980s being her friend Christy and Anita Tessensohn.…
-
Sunshine Lee
In the late 1970s Sunshine Lee was an up-and-coming skateboarder in southern California sponsored by Vans but her full story has yet to be discovered. In his memoir, Authentic: a memoir by the founder of Vans Paul Van Doren explained how “Each Vans store manager was encouraged to choose seven or eight skateboarders and supply…
-
Sue Hazel
Sue Hazel is the UK equivalent to Cara-beth Burnside considering her long-standing skateboarding career from 1977 to the present and her role in supporting the progression of female skaters in Britain. While brief interviews of Sue appeared in UK magazines Sk8Action and Skateboard! during the 1980s, a more thorough interview was conducted in 2010 by…
-
Terry Verdoia
Terry Verdoia (now Teresa Verdoia-Walker) appeared in the December 1978 issue of Skateboarder in an article by Craig Fineman. Fineman was reporting on and documenting the First Annual Endless Wave Pool & Aggressive Pipe Riding Contest, which was held in August 1978 at the Endless Wave Skatepark in Oxnard, CA. Terry placed third in the…
-
Michelle Sanderson
Michelle Sanderson (Hart) from West Covina, California was a competitive freestyle skater in the early 1980s who persevered during an era when skateboarding had dramatically declined in popularity compared to the 1970s but slowly returned to full force. Photo: a still of Michelle skating in the film Future Primitive (1985) Michelle competed in the California…
-
Kym Milburn
Kym Milburn from San Diego was primarily a freestyle skateboarder during the mid-1970s riding for Grand Surf, Team Bahne, and eventually Tracker trucks. She practiced her skills at the Bay Park Elementary asphalt playground, which was a “long-time gathering spot for local skaters” according to Brian Gillogly. She had a background in gymnastics, which was…
-
Fabiana Duclos
In 1973, Fabiana Duclos (Badie) received her first skateboard and within four years she was being recognized as a freestyle expert. Fabiana was showcased by the Wild World of Skateboarding magazine first in July 1977 within a 4-page feature on how to perform a 360, while skating at the Montebello skate park. That same year…
-
Nathalie Richter
Nathalie Richter from Bonn was Germany’s amateur female skateboarding champion in the late 1980s, and thanks to the ‘zine Equal Time, edited by Lynn Kramer, her story isn’t lost! Nathalie began skateboarding in February 1986 and three years later, at age 19 she was riding for Vans, G&S, Venture, Speed Wheels, and Rector. Nathalie’s feature…
-
Stephanie Fernández
Stephanie Fernández is a skateboarder from Mexico that I thought I would never find! It all began with Vicki Vickers, who was interviewed for Skateboarder magazine (December 1979) in a 6-page feature. At one point, Jim Goodrich had asked her, “Are most of the female skaters where you’ve been to in the U.S. seriously into…
Womxn Skateboard History 