The Donnie Ho Legacy ⋆ AZPX

Donnie Ho. My lil’ buddy and partner in all things AZPX passed away from the ravages of cancer on Tuesday, July 2 at 4:56am. F**K CANCER! Tara, myself and the AZPX extended family is devastated with the news of the loss of the Godfather of Arizona Skateboarding. Donnie may have been my lil’ buddy, but he was a giant with his massive heart and tenacity that made a positive impact on half the population of Phoenix and beyond.

Working with the Ho-Man the past dozen years has been an amazing skateboard ride. Don had a vision and knack for networking. He needed me to help fulfill his skateboarding bucket list but I had no idea how much we needed him! I knew he knew A LOT of people, but with his passing the immense amount of outpouring from so many different facets of our community has become clear.

I’ve always tried to make AZPX a place to collaborate and to get creative. Donnie was one of the few people who saw the potential of our little company and used our resources to make things happen. Don was meticulous on who he needed to take care of if anyone else was involved. This made working on projects a joyous process instead of a stress party.

Ditch Service from the “Invasion” studio session: Dane Stewart, Brian Brannon, Donnie Ho, Rob Locker, Mike Pistrui. Not to forget Jean Rusen, not pictured.

Being skateboarders, everything we did was to the true DIY (Do It Yourself) ethic. When we were putting together the High Rollers Compilation (different from High Rollers Movie), Don really wanted a spot on the record but had no band. He came over, said I was going to play bass (I don’t play ANY instruments) and write a song (I don’t write songs!). He would arrange it and we will record it in a studio. Before we knew it, we had a bass line I could barely play and some words about skateboarding Hohokam Ditch. “Hohokam” became a track on the record. Ditch Service (formerly Ditch Diggers) was born which became a rotating studio project. We even recorded a song (“Invasion of the Scooter Zombies”) with original lyrics, vocals and keyboards by JFA’s Brian Brannon. It was an experience I’ll treasure.

Don loved Arizona skateboard history and wanted to document his and his friends experiences through the AZPX blog with became the series ‘Viejo Guerrero‘ (old warrior). Since Donnie was truly old-school, he wrote and conducted the interview with a pad of paper and pen. Things went great for the first couple of interview until it was Steve Shelton’s turn. Steve’s photographic memory and treasure trove of artifacts overwhelmed Don. “We need to make a video interview of Shelton, that fucker can talk!” Soon after the idea of a documentary was envisioned in Don’s head.

Don: “We’re going to make a movie.”

Rob: “What? Neither of us have ever made a movie!”

Don: “I know.”

Donnie’s networking came into play. He put together a team of skateboarders that have never made a movie, we then made a movie. The project spanned almost 3 years and everyone on Don’s “Dream Team” stepped up the plate big-time to make “High Rollers: The Golden Age of Arizona Skateboarding“. Much thanks and gratitude to Steve Shelton, Oliver Whitelaw, Mike Hathcote, Joey Albillar and all those involved. You know who you are. Needless to say, the documentary came out better than ANY of our expectations. The Tempe History Museum even did a showing of the movie inside the museum!

Night at the Museum

Don’s Decks

Donnie was a master at most skateboard disciplines. Except for street and mega-ramp (if it came around when he was younger, I am sure he would have done it), he excelled in all facets. Bombing hills, ripping ditches and shredding transitions were his specialty.

I could go on forever with stories but I lastly need to mention that Donnie Ho was the greatest sport when it came to Ryan Swick’s and I favorite skateboarder’s past time: busting balls. Swick and I pride ourselves with our busting skills. We were always dumbfounded how The Ho was ambivalent to our bullshit. Nothing stuck. We often joked how Donnie had those Wonder Woman cuffs that repelled bullets and bullshit. A true master at deflection but he was probably just ignoring us in reality.

Late last year Ho came over and told us about his will he made and telling me what boards he wanted to give me. Not taking him seriously, I said “Dude the only thing I want from you is that Goddam Christies Cabaret Beanie so Ryan and I can burn it in the deep end at MMR.” Without a flinch, he said, “OK”.