Early this year we have legendary Larry Steveson (creator of kicktail and also 1st longboard) passed away. Yet few days ago we had another legend left us with tears, his name is Tom Sims, who has been skateboarding for over fifty years. He has accomplished many remarkable things and has been at the forefront of four major board sports: skateboarding, longboarding, snowboarding and wakeboarding. He is truly the godfather of action sports. Is he worth multi-millions? Hardly. But this has not dampened his stoke. Sims is a visionary who has never lost the love for riding. He’s not just lived life, he has embraced it. Tom Sims is not just the godfather of board sports. He is the embodiment of pure stoke. His passion has enabled hundreds of millions of others to enjoy the ride, too.
In 1969, Tom Sims improved the hell out of the Snurfer with his “ski-board” helping to pave the way for Snowboarding as we know it. He was a world champion skater in 1975 and a world champion snowboarder in 1983, and this led to him being James Bond’s primary stunt double in 1985 in the movie A View To Kill. After Burton recruited Craig Kelly, the Burton VS Sims war exploded, bringing snowboarding into the mainstream and blessing all of us with better technology and more choices.
Here are a few of the milestones that Tom Sims brought to life as we know it.
1. He created the first metal edged snowboard
2. He created the first snowboarding Half Pipe
3. He created the first freestyle snowboard
4. He created the first pro-model snowboard
5. He created the world’s first longboards for skateboarding in 1975.
Read more from Skateboarder mag
Read more from Transworld Skateboarding
Read more from ESPN (with video)
Read more from LA Times
Read more from NBC Sports
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