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Legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk is auctioning off his “900 Collection” gear. (Photo by Randy Shropshire/Getty Images for Activision)
Getty Images for Activision
While Tony Hawk is best known for his “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater” video game series which have sold millions of units, it’s the 900 trick that made the legendary skateboarder an iconic name.
Hawk – who is now 57 years old – landed the trick in June of 1999 at X Games V after trying for over a decade to land the move. That included trying to land the trick at that event in San Francisco, California after 10 failed attempts. After finally landing the 900, Hawk proclaimed to the crowd, “This is the best day of my life.”
The influential skateboarder recounts that moment that led to him finally landing the move, which preceded the release of his video game series later that year in September of 1999.
“Personally, it was more of a relief, because it’s something that I was chasing for over 10 years,” says Hawk in a one-on-one interview. “I didn’t think it would resonate that much beyond just the skateboard world. I think what happened was because it would happen in that venue, in that setting, and people kind of got to see a glimpse of what it takes to do something new on a skateboard, and the perseverance and the sort of solitary goal of that.”
The moment is arguably the most iconic one in skateboarding history and helped launch the extreme sports revolution of the early millennium. Games and movies were released surrounding all extreme sports, whether that was skateboarding, BMX or snowboarding.
The “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater” video game series still exists to this day, with the first installment in the series selling over 3.5 million copies in the United States and is one of the top 25 best-selling Playstation games of all time.
Hawk calls it the “perfect storm” of the 900 move and his video game series being released just months apart.
“I think that resonated with kids, because they saw something new and that was exciting, and it was daredevil,” says Hawk. By pure coincidence, our video game was released a few months later, and it’s kind of the perfect storm.”
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While Hawk has since landed the move “50 or 60 times” since initially doing it in 1999, he says it took a lot of bumps and bruises, and “trial and error,” to land the move for the first time at the X Games.
“A lot of trial and error, a lot of spinning with no intention of landing it, just to get a feel for where you are in the air,” says Hawk. “When you finally decide that it’s time to try it, you got to be ready to take the hits. I definitely took plenty of hits. I broke my rib twice trying to make that trick. At some point I thought maybe it’s not even possible.”
The move transcended the sport and created a new generation of skateboarding fans, a trend that continues to this day. It’s up there with Michael Jordan’s iconic shot over Bryon Russell to win the 1998 NBA Finals or Muhammad Ali’s first heavyweight title win.
Hawk says the parallel he can think of when it comes to landing the move is a four-minute mile that people just didn’t think was possible until finally breaking the barrier.
“My best parallel is, it’s like four-minute mile that people just didn’t think was possible for a long time,” says Hawk. “Then once someone broke that barrier, it became something that many people could do. But it’s more once you know something’s possible, it’s a little bit easier to attain.”
Tony Hawk Auctioning Off ‘900 Collection’ Gear On Sep. 23
Fast forward to more than 25 years later and Hawk is finally ready to part with the major items from that historic day. Through Julien’s Auctions – a celebrity auction house – Hawk is auctioning off his 900 skateboard, his helmet, the knee pads and sneakers and his Vert Finals bronze medal from the 1999 X Games.
“I feel like it’s time that I could part with some of the stuff that I’ve saved over the few decades of skating and including the skateboard I use at the ’99 Games for the first 900,” says Hawk. “I just thought it’d be a fun way to purge some of my collection, raise money for public skate parks and just kind of see what plays out.”
The money raised through the auction will benefit “The Skateboard Project,” Hawk’s foundation which has been around for 22 years. The cause is to benefit the next generation of skaters with safe spaces and creative outlets.
“Part of the proceeds go to The Skateboard Project, and that is the foundation I started about 22 years ago,” says Hawk. “We help to create public skate parks under certain areas. We help to either fund them or get the resources and the roadmap to getting a park developed in these areas. Honestly, it’s my proudest work. We’ve helped to develop over 700 parks during that time.”
He says this current auction of his main gear from landing the 900 trick is the most “comprehensive” list of items he’s sold through auction.
“I have auctioned off a few items just individually to raise money for the skatepark project, but never something so comprehensive,” says Hawk. “To be honest, I haven’t had anyone privately offer me anything for this stuff. I think a lot of people didn’t realize that I had it.”
The sale will take place live on September 23 in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST on Julien’s Auctions official website.
