Rodney Mullen

Rodney Mullen (born August 17 1966, Gainesville, Florida) is a professional skateboarder, considered one of the most influential skateboarders in the history of the sport. He has invented a good number of skateboarding tricks throughout his career.

Related Topics:
August 17 - 1966 - Gainesville - Florida - Skateboarder

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Mullen started skateboarding on borrowed boards when he was 8 and at age 10 he got his first skateboard. His father opposed his son's wishes to practice the sport, however, he finally agreed to give Rodney a skateboard on condition that he always wore pads, with the understanding that if he were to ever get hurt, he would have to quit. On January 1, 1977, Mullen had his first skateboard, a black Bonzai.

Related Topics:
Skateboard - January 1 - 1977

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His first sponsor was the Inland Surf Shop where he used to skate in their carpark. After winning first place at the Kona contest in 1979, he was sponsored by Walker Skateboards. In 1980 at 13 he turned professional after winning first place in freestyle competition, and began skateboarding for the legendary Powell Peralta Bones Brigade team.

Related Topics:
Kona - 1980 - Powell Peralta - Bones Brigade

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In 1988, Mullen appeared in the feature film Gleaming the Cube, alongside fellow Bones Brigade team members and movie star Christian Slater. Mullen's other videos include The Bones Brigade Video Show, , , and . He also appeared as a guest on That's Incredible!.

Related Topics:
1988 - Gleaming the Cube - Christian Slater - The Bones Brigade Video Show - That's Incredible!

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In early 1989, Mullen left Powell Peralta and formed World Industries with Steve Rocco. He later skated for another World Industries affiliated company, Plan-B. In 1990, his beloved form of skateboarding, freestyle, effectively ended, and Mullen adapted to street skating throughout the 1990's. He was featured in several Plan-B videos: The Questionable Video, Virtual Reality, and Second Hand Smoke. In the late 1990's, Mullen left Plan-B and formed the A-Team. He has also starred in the extremely popular Rodney Mullen vs. Daewon Song video series, pushing the limits of technical, street skating by taking his tricks to new levels of difficulty and new terrain.

Related Topics:
Powell Peralta - World Industries - The Questionable Video - Virtual Reality - Second Hand Smoke - Rodney Mullen vs. Daewon Song

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Mullen's ability to do the seemingly impossible on a skateboard has earned him the nicknames "The Godfather of Street Skating", "The King of Freestyle" and "The Mutt" by skateboarding fans.

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After A-Team's end, Mullen joined Enjoi Skateboards. His shoe sponsor, Globe, put out a new full length team video "Opinion" in 2001. Mullen also won the Transworld Readers' Choice Award for Skater of the Year in 2002. At the end of 2002, Mullen left Enjoi and created a new company, Almost Skateboards out of Dwindle Distribution. With a team consisting of Daewon Song, Ryan Sheckler, Chris Haslam, Greg Lutzka, Cooper Wilt, William Patrick (a fictional character created for the video), and Rodney Mullen himself. In December 2004, Almost skateboards released the much-anticipated video "Almost-Round Three." The "Round Three" video finds Rodney Mullen versus Daewon Song once again. He currently wears Matix clothing as his apparel sponsor.

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Rodney Mullen has lost only one freestyle contest in his entire life, and in that contest, he came in 2nd due to a cold. He has won every other freestyle contest he has entered and even one vert contest.

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In 2003, Rodney released his autobiography, "The Mutt: How to Skateboard and not Kill Yourself". It tells the nearly complete story of his life from when he was a little kid with "torture boots", to when he proposed to his girlfriend Traci.

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He continues to revolutionize the world of skateboarding and inspire kids all over the world who watch his videos, as well as help to keep freestyle skateboarding alive. The number of skaters who claim to skate freestyle sharply increased after the release of "Almost: Round Three".

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