Monday, December 19, 2016

Tom Boyle #4.



"Gnarly memories were like when Neil Blender stayed at Houston with Ken Fillion for a month one time. He was skating this ramp that I always skated, and told me I did good Elguerials and we talked a little bit. I was so stoked."

The Rock.

Skateboarding lost another good one.

Tom was born in Pennsylvania and moved around a real lot with his parents. He switched from BMX to skateboarding while living in Texas. Later, he wound up in Toronto after befriending Bill Wiess and Thomas Morgan. The Rock would bounce back and forth between Canada and the Philadelphia area.

Over the years he was sponsored by Alan Losi's LSD, World Industries, H-Street, and New School. Steve Rocco didn't want any vert guys on the team, but Rodney Mullen secretly sent him checks. He turned pro for H-Street. Things worked out better at New School and they branched out to give him his own company called Arsenal. At the end of the 1990s, Tom would end up riding for Transit, Mike Vallely's short lived company. He rode for Airwalk and Vans, earning a pro shoe from the company with the waffle soles. His parts in the two New School videos are great examples of strong vert skating in a time of small wheels and big pants.

The photo is by Geoff Graham.

For the quote: Transworld - October 1996 Volume 14 Number 10

Transworld - October 1991 Volume 9 Number 10

2 comments:

Justin said...

Some kind words from Transworld:
http://skateboarding.transworld.net/videos/r-p-tom-boyle/#OqaORhgrpgox1b5v.97

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