Dry-Surf Bonus! AZ Skateboarding in the EARLY 1960’s

Four of us Sunnyslope High guys hung out at Tom Coxwells house before and after we cruised Central in his old 50’s big bumper African plains style Land Rover.  Tom spent the summers at his aunt’s house on Redondo Beach surfing.  He came home in August 1963 all excited about something the surfers called “Sidewalk Surfing.  It was something to do when the weather was unfavorable and had started at the end of the previous winter.  Somebody had the idea of taking old shoe-clamp roller skates, cutting them apart and nailing (then bolting) them to scrap boards.  Technology managed to proceed despite constant street rash, broken bones and parental intervention.

Tom’s dad was in construction and had a great shop behind his house in Sunnyslope.  It was an excellent R&D lab as there was plenty of scrap lumber, hardware, power tools and a huge worktable.  We all scouted our separate neighborhoods and rounded up a couple dozen pairs of old shoe skates and promptly started up the first development lab in Arizona.  Also, it was at the back of a large cul-de-sac with wide sidewalks.  

We quickly developed specialties.  Tom was Chief of Design, Steve Lyders-lumber selection, Joe Patricca-engineering, I was the heavy metal cutter and selector of attachment hardware (I was a farm kid from Kansas).  A frenzy of excitement and sense of purpose took over.

No discussion of early development skateboard equipment would be complete without a summary of engineering trials, errors and advancement of the sport.  It should be noted that despite some outrageous failures, we persisted. The California guys tried to make them look wide and bigger to imitate their surfboards. But they had mixed success.  We however went big by going smaller.  Major lessons learned –Technical notes follow;

• Roller skates were pesky critters to cut apart and retain the unique lateral pressure to rotate into turns. We managed to ruin at least half the pairs developing the  proper techniques.
• Since the skates were made adjustable to a range of shoe sizes, certain longitudinal weakness was noted in the adjustable slider mechanism.
• The shoe sole side clamps presented a tough attachment challenge
• Boards thin enough to fit into the clamps proved too thin and unreliable as they easily split trying to achieve satisfactory pressure to induce the required turning response.
• Cutting off the vertical part of the clamps-not easy.  (front and back sides had 2 verticals each = 8 cuts with a hacksaw).
• Drilling out the holes for small bolts placed stress under heavy use at the attachment points that has to be resolved.
• Lumber selection was the widest span of trial and error.
• We first used 2by 4’s, but found them too narrow to achieve satisfactory pressure to make the skates turn.
• We then turned to 2 by 6’s for lateral strength.  However when we deflected then into the turns, the front corners dug into the sidewalk producing quick ascent into the air and an attempt to outrun our fall.
• We cut off the front corners at a 45 degree angle.  Research determined a more sleek trimming.

Ultimately we achieved success.  Success determined by the diminishing bruises, and a more favorable parental grudging acceptance.

Now how does this factor into the Tempe experience.  The four of us (all at ASY) were part of the opening crew at Legend City in 1963.  I was on the Skyride which produced a plethora of young ladies we could chat up.

This led to my discovery of my wife,  Cherri Blaine, Tempe class of 65.  The Dairy Queen girl.  We married at ASU’s Danforth Chapel during semester break my senior year.  Cherri was quite the catch.  She was the Dancing Queen at the Armory.  She was on Student Council and knew everyone.  She had won numerous awards for roller skating, baton twirling and other athletic endeavors.  I introduced her to our surfboards.

Without any practice she surfed circles around us-it was just not much of a challenge-Male Envy presented itself among my co-Surfers.  Alas, romance won out.

Additional early history.  I left Legend City and worked at the Sears store on 24^th & Camelback in the Toy Department for Christmas 1965.  We received the first shipment of commercially produced skateboards. Out department manager had the policy that we needed to open up one of each new toy and try them out.  

Sears had a great long ramp down to the loading docks below ground level.  We could not wait for store closing.  We rounded up several other department workers and headed to the loading dock.  The experience quickly took a nasty turn.

We did not notice that the concrete surface has a very rough lateral   5-foot-wide surface part way down the ramp. It was there so that the heavy semi’s tires could get traction to get up the ramp.  The manager of the credit department just had to be first (damned seniority).  His run picked up way too much speed.  His rollers hit the rough-he went flying.  The result was a broken arm and a LOT of concrete rash.  A certain satisfaction arose among us-he was a jackass anyway.  Toy trying was then outlawed at Sears.

That was long ago but still a fun memory.  A major lesson of life was learned.  A team successfully achieving an exciting goal together is one of the most enjoyable experiences.  Even if we had to suffer the painful consequences – we suffered them as a team.  Friends in memory even when they are no longer with us.

Stephen C Mason, ASU Class of 67.  Right out of ASU I joined the Defense Contract Audit Agency posted to McDonald Douglas in Santa Monica (3 miles from the beach).  I worked on the 3^rd stage of the Saturn 5 moon shot.  I touched the Apollo 13 space unit that got our guys back to Earth.  I got to see (and audit) the most advanced engineering process’s (and top secret too).  I often compared it to our little skateboard development-it was a winning team too.