A Beautiful Day to Celebrate an AZ Skate Legend

Friends and family came out to the Wedge Skatepark on Sunday, March 2 to celebrate and skate for my lil’ buddy Donnie Ho who was stricken with colo-rectal cancer last year when we lost him to this horrible but curable disease. Donnie’s situation was caught too late and cancer spread through him like wild fire. We wanted to do something positive and decided to raise money for F!ght CRC, a colo-rectal cancer research and awareness charity. March is colon cancer awareness month so it all fell into place.

F!ght CRC helped us set-up a profile page for Donnie on their website with a donation button that would make any donations in his name to the charity. Mia, Don’s daughter Mia set-up a $1000 goal for the 4-hour event and we crushed it by raising $2200 in about 3 hours! Our skateboarding community rules! Folks that donated got raffle tickets for prize packages provided by AZPX, Sidewalk Surfer, Grateful Shred Skateboards, Bizarre Guitar, Valle Luna Restaurant, Fat Gray Cat, Yellow Lark Soap, Odin Custom Griptape and a killer custom painted board from Steve Scales. Our local friends at Night Owl Pizza and Drinks came out and handed out free pizza slices all day. They ROCK!

It was a pretty casual day but we did have a lil’ Bertleman throw-down session to win a dumb trophy I made for ‘Berti-est Bertleman’. Competition was tight but our deciding judge Ari-Cat ruled that Ryan Swick won.

Photos by Colin Choy and Nathan Duty. Thank you !

Donnie Ho

Why We’re Shredding

Here is a little back story…

Don Ho was 9 years old when his parents decided to pack up the kids and make the move to Phoenix, Arizona. As a young man he attended school, hung around friends, played sports etc. He was very young when he discovered his first true love and passion, the love of skateboarding. Countless hours and days were spent riding around and getting into mischief with his buddies. Don Ho developed a unique surfstyle of skateboarding. He would later become sponsored by Powell Peralta skate team. As a teenager he debuted in his first full page photo in the infamous Skateboarder Magazine. Shortly after his photo shoot he injured himself in a competition. That would force him to take a break from the skate scene for awhile.

In high-school he met and married his high-school sweetheart, they would later welcome his only daughter. As young love and fate would have it the two split up and went their separate ways. It was during this time he would pursue his second passion, music. He was a talented guitar player, singer and song writer. He played in several bands and did many projects with local artists in the valley.

In the early 2000’s he got back in touch with his old skate buddies and started shredding again. He went on to share and teach his passion with his granddaughter (his other skate buddy). With the help of his friends he would partner up with AZPX and design his own line of skateboards. Don Ho still wanted to do more, he and his friends collaborated and made the documentary High Rollers. The documentary would go in depth about the local Arizona skaters and feature specific spots that were legendary for the local skate scene. The first viewing of the movie had such a great turnout, they had to turn people away. This devastated my father, but the impact on the local scene was surreal and their hard work had paid off. I’m sure with his creativity and his love for the community he would have come up with something else that would showcase or highlight the sport.

In early February of 2024 Don Ho started exhibiting symptoms of what appeared to be a stroke. After months of testing in mid June he was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer. It unfortunately spread from his colon, to his liver, lungs and finally spread to his brain. He started radiation on his brain immediately and was scheduled for chemotherapy for his other organs. Due to the nature and the condition of his riddled body he could not follow through with the chemotherapy. After consulting medical professionals and discussing with family it was decided to help him transition as peaceful and painlessly as possible. He was put on Hospice Care July 1, 2024. Surrounded by his family, in the early hours of July 2, 2024 he was called home. Don Ho being a God fearing man, felt the love and all the prayers he received. He transitioned peacefully and no longer had to suffer.

My father really wanted to get through treatment so he could teach his great grandson how to skateboard and watch him graduate. His great grandson was one of his proudest moments, he loved him so very much. As a family we have vowed to spread awareness and help in any way we can when it comes to this disease. I made a promise to him before he passed that we would share his story on his behalf. He said if his story could save at least one life, it wouldn’t be for nothing. If you had the pleasure of knowing my father you would know his upbeat and positive nature. His silly sense of humor and his big heart. He cared and loved so deeply, he was a genuine and honest man. Please help us carry on his legacy and honor him the way he deserves. We ask you to please help us live out his wishes and help spread knowledge and help others to get screened. Thank you with much love from his family.

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