Rodney Mullen facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Rodney Mullen

Mullen in 2013
Personal information
Birth name	John Rodney Mullen
Born	(1966-08-17) August 17, 1966 (age 58) Gainesville, Florida, U.S.
Occupation	Skateboarder
Years active	1978–present
Website	rodneymullen.com
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Skateboarding
Turned pro	1980

John Rodney Mullen (born August 17, 1966) is an American professional skateboarder. He is famous for his amazing skills in freestyle skateboarding and street skateboarding. Many people think he is one of the most important skateboarders ever.

Rodney Mullen invented many tricks that are now common in skateboarding. These include the flatground ollie, kickflip, heelflip, impossible, and 360-kickflip. Because of his many inventions, he is often called the "Godfather of freestyle skating."

Rodney won his first world freestyle skateboard championship when he was just 14. Over the next ten years, he won 34 out of 35 freestyle contests. This is the most successful winning streak in the history of the sport! Later, he moved from freestyle to street skateboarding. He used his freestyle skills to invent new street tricks like primo slides, dark slides, and Casper slides.

Early Life and First Steps in Skateboarding

Rodney Mullen was born in Gainesville, Florida. When he was a baby, he had to wear special boots to fix a condition called pigeon-toe. This meant his feet turned inward. Even with this, he had amazing control over his feet. Phil Chiocchio, who owned a skatepark, said Rodney had "incredible dexterity with his feet."

Rodney started skateboarding on New Year's Day in 1977, when he was ten years old. A friend in his neighborhood showed him a skateboard, and he was hooked!

He practiced a lot in his family's garage. He always wore full protective gear, which was a rule his dad made. He also spent time with his sister's surfer friends who skated during the week. Rodney became obsessed with skateboarding and practiced for many hours every day.

Becoming a Professional Skateboarder

In 1978, even though he had only skated for a little over a year, Rodney did very well. He placed fifth in the Boy's Freestyle category at the US Open Championships in Jacksonville, Florida. A skateboard company owner named Bruce Walker saw him skate. Walker Skateboards then sponsored Rodney from 1978 to 1980. Rodney learned a lot from Jim McCall, a pro skater for Walker, and other Florida skaters like Ed Womble and Kelly Lynn.

Later, Rodney was coached by Barry Zaritsky. When his family moved to a farm in a quiet area of Florida, Rodney started to perfect his flat ground tricks in the family garage. He said that being isolated helped him focus on freestyle skateboarding. Rodney remembers July 1979 to August 1980 as his "most creative time." During this period, he was mostly alone, and he even joked that the cows on the farm were his best friends! He then won 30 amateur competitions in a row, mostly in Florida. This winning streak ended with a big win at the Oceanside Nationals in June 1979.

Rodney Mullen in 1988. "Innovation rarely comes by revolution; it develops by continual and gradual evolution." —Mullen

In 1980, when he was 14, Rodney entered the Oasis Pro competition. He beat the world champion, Steve Rocco. At Oasis Skatepark, Rodney also met a 12-year-old skater who introduced himself as Tony Hawk. Rodney remembered, "Before Tony was sponsored, before anybody knew anything about him, he made an impression on me." The two became good friends.

Joining the Bones Brigade Team

Soon after, Rodney became a professional skater. He joined the famous Bones Brigade team, sponsored by Powell Peralta. This happened because another skater, Tim Scroggs, told company co-founder Stacy Peralta about Rodney. Rodney really looked up to Stacy Peralta. Rodney competed a lot throughout the 1980s. He often surprised other skaters and judges with how consistent and skilled he was.

Back then, most skaters tried a mix of styles, including some vert (skating on ramps). Later, skateboarding became more specialized. Skaters who liked freestyle moved towards street skating, and those who liked ramps and bowls went into vert skating.

Rodney started studying chemical engineering at the University of Florida. But he left before finishing his degree to help manage World Industries. This was a new company started by his friend and fellow Bones Brigade member, Steve Rocco.

Inventing the Flatground Ollie and Other Tricks

One of Rodney Mullen's biggest contributions to skateboarding was adapting the ollie for flat ground. The ollie was first invented by Alan Gelfand for vert skating. Rodney figured out how to pop the board off the ground and lift it into the air. This allowed skaters to jump onto rails and obstacles. It also opened the door for many new flip tricks and other flat ground moves. Just inventing this one trick, along with all his other inventions and designs, makes Rodney Mullen one of the most important skateboarders ever.

Throughout the 1980s, Rodney invented many of skateboarding's flip tricks. These include the kickflip, the heelflip, the 360-flip, and many more. Other skaters like Mark Gonzales and Natas Kaupas then used these freestyle tricks in street skating. Today, Rodney's tricks are basic building blocks for both modern street and vert skateboarding.

World Industries and Plan B Skateboards

In early 1989, Rodney left the Bones Brigade. He joined World Industries as a main investor with his friend Steve Rocco. This was the very first skateboarder-owned company! It was a big risk because Powell Peralta was a well-known company, and Rocco's new company was struggling. World Industries later grew into Dwindle Distribution, which is now one of the biggest skateboard manufacturers in the world.

As freestyle skateboarding became less popular, Rodney was encouraged to change his style to street skating. He was hesitant because he didn't want to lose the unique style he had developed. In a World Industries video called Rubbish Heap, a teammate even broke Rodney's freestyle board to show that freestyle was ending.

In 1991, Rodney joined the famous team, Plan B Skateboards. Mike Ternasky, the owner of Plan B, helped Rodney switch from freestyle to street skating. Rodney showed off his new skills in the 1992 Plan B video, Questionable. His part started with freestyle tricks but quickly moved to street skating, showing him doing tricks over obstacles. This video marked a huge change in Rodney's career and skating style. He mixed flip tricks with grinds and boardslides. He also introduced two new tricks in Questionable: the kickflip underflip and the Casper slide.

Rodney's performance in Questionable helped start a new era in street skateboarding. His switch from freestyle to street skating showed that technical street skating was becoming very important. Rodney continued to develop this new style in later Plan B videos, like 1993's Virtual Reality. In this video, he showed off the darkslide. Rodney's time with Plan B ended after Mike Ternasky died in a car crash in 1994. Rodney said, "He was such a great person. He would lift you so high and that is why Plan B was what it was. And it was clear once Mike was gone that it was never the same."

A-Team and Enjoi

In 1997, Rodney started a company called A-Team with other skaters like Marc Johnson. They wanted to create a "super team." When A-Team closed in 2000, Rodney became a rider for Enjoi Skateboards. Marc Johnson founded Enjoi and brought in skaters like Chris Cole and Jerry Hsu.

Changing His Stance

After many years of skating in a fixed regular stance, Rodney started having problems with his right hip. From 2007 onwards, he decided to try and "erase" his preferred stance. He re-learned tricks (and even learned new ones) skating goofy (with the other foot forward). He wanted to be able to skate equally well in any stance. He explained to Tony Hawk that he had built up scar tissue in his hip from stretching his leg too far during tricks like darkslides. He worked hard to break up the scar tissue and get his full movement back.

Recent Skateboarding and Projects (2014–Present)

In 2014, the Almost company celebrated its 10th anniversary. Rodney Mullen attended the event and gave an interview called "A Beautiful Mind." He talked about his love for skateboarding: "That joy of feeling what I do, rolling around, playing around—that's something I'm going to do as long as I can. That's who I am...who I am."

The first video of Rodney skating in nine years was released in July 2014 on Tony Hawk's RIDE YouTube channel. Rodney skated at musician Ben Harper's house. He also appeared in the Gracias Skateboarding Volumen Uno video in 2014.

Rodney also joined the Globe brand's "EUTrippin'" European tour in 2015 with other skaters like Mark Appleyard.

Other Ventures and Contributions

Rodney vs. Daewon Video Series

Around 1997, Rodney talked with his friend and fellow pro skater, Daewon Song, about making a video. This led to Rodney vs. Daewon, released in 1997. It showed the two skaters "competing" with their video parts. This idea became a series, and there have been three "rounds" of the video.

Tensor Trucks

Around 2000, Rodney started working on his own skateboard truck design. This idea became the company Tensor.

Tensor released an advertisement called "The Patented Tensor Design." Tensor signed many pro skaters, including Daewon Song, Chris Cole, and Ryan Sheckler. Today, the Tensor team includes Rodney, Daewon Song, Ronnie Creager, and others.

Almost Skateboards and Dwindle Distribution

"The biggest obstacle to creativity is breaking through the barrier of disbelief."
—Rodney Mullen, 2013

Rodney later left Enjoi to co-found Almost Skateboards with Daewon Song. They brought in skaters like Cooper Wilt and Chris Haslam to start the company.

After many years, Steve Rocco decided to sell World Industries. In 2002, World Industries was sold to Globe International for a lot of money. Rodney, as a main investor, became a multimillionaire. Rodney then started working for Globe under the Dwindle Distribution brand.

Rodney is still a co-owner and team rider for Almost. He also helps with research and development for new skateboard designs and technologies. This includes designs like Impact Support and Uber Light. The Uber Light design, which uses carbon fiber and foam, makes boards lighter and stronger.

Rodney also helps design experimental boards for other Dwindle brands, such as Blind and Darkstar.

Video Game Appearances

Rodney Mullen became even more famous in 2000 when he first appeared in the Tony Hawk's video game series. He has been in many games from the series, including:

• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
• Tony Hawk's Underground
• Tony Hawk's Underground 2
• Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
• Tony Hawk's Project 8
• Tony Hawk's Proving Ground
• Tony Hawk: Ride
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2

In 2019, he also voiced and did motion capture for a character named Jace Skell in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint. This was his first video game role that wasn't about skateboarding. In 2022, he and his team released his first game called Rodney Mullen's Skatrix. It's an augmented reality mobile game for iOS and Android phones.

Books

In 2015, Rodney Mullen wrote the introduction for the book Unemployable: 30 Years of Hardcore, Skate and Street. In it, he shared his thoughts on his twenty years with the Dwindle and Globe companies.

Public Speaking

Rodney Mullen has given many public talks. He has spoken about his life, skateboarding, new ideas, and how communities work.

The Lemelson Center at MIT, which is part of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, invited Rodney to talk about invention and innovation in American society. They discussed how creativity and new ideas can help improve society.

Rodney was also invited by the Sapling Foundation to speak at a TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) event in June 2012. His talk was called "How Context Shapes Content." He shared how the street environment affects his skateboarding and compared the skateboarding community to the open source and hacking communities. He also spoke about being strong and creative in a talk called "Getting Back Up" at the Pop!Tech event in October 2013.

In 2014, Rodney spoke at two technology conferences, "Strata" and "Velocity." In February 2014, his Strata talk was "The Art of Good Practice," where he explained how skateboarders practice. In June 2014, he gave a speech called "Build on a Bedrock of Failure." He talked about how "failure, pain, injury, recovery" are a big part of being a skateboarder.

Film Appearances

Rodney Mullen has appeared in many films and documentaries, often playing himself or performing stunts.

Awards, Accolades, and Influence

In 2002, Rodney won the Transworld Skateboarding Readers' Choice Award for Skater of the Year. In 2003, he was voted the greatest action sports athlete ever on the Extreme Sports Channel's Legends of the Extreme countdown. Transworld also put Rodney on its "30 Most Influential Skaters of All Time" list in December 2011. He was ranked third, behind Tony Hawk (second) and Mark Gonzales (first).

In May 2013, Rodney Mullen was inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame. He was at the award ceremony in Anaheim, California. Fellow pro skater Steve Caballero and musician Ben Harper spoke about Rodney before he received the award. Caballero said Rodney changed the "face" of skateboarding.

Pro skater Paul Rodriguez named Rodney Mullen as one of his "top ten" favorite pro skateboarders in July 2013. Rodriguez explained that Rodney and Mark Gonzales invented almost everything in street skateboarding. He added that Rodney has invented "50, 60, who knows how many tricks." He said, "Just about every modern day flat ground trick that we are doing today he invented."

Transworld has called him possibly the most important skater of all time. They said, "Rodney Mullen built the house skateboarding lives in. After inventing the flatground ollie—in itself perhaps the most influential trick ever—he went on to unveil kickflips, backside flips, heelflips, 360 flips, double flips, impossibles, darkslides, and onward. Without Rodney, skateboarding would still be in the dark ages." Anthony Pappalardo of The RIDE Channel clearly stated, "Rodney Mullen is the biggest influence on modern skateboarding." In Transworld Skateboarding's "Skater's Favorite Skater" video series, both Tony Hawk and Daewon Song have said Rodney Mullen is their favorite skater.

Tricks Invented by Rodney Mullen

Rodney Mullen is credited with inventing many skateboarding tricks. Here are some of them:

Rodney's Thoughts on Skateboarding and Life

Rodney Mullen has said that picking his favorite skateboarders is an "endless" task. But he has mentioned skaters like Chris Haslam, Bryan Herman, Paul Rodriguez, Antwuan Dixon, and Eric Koston.

In 2010, Rodney said that "skating is one of the greatest blessings I could have." However, he also worried about the trend of skaters doing "big stuff" because it can hurt their bodies. He said, "I see great skaters and their ankles and knees are ruined."

During a festival in Biarritz, Rodney talked about how much Mike Ternasky, the founder of Plan B, influenced him. He said, "I miss Mike. And the day Jacob called me and goes, 'Mike's dead.'—I replayed that so many times...and how instrumental that was in driving me forward in a way that kind of honoring what he gave me: A second chance." He believes that protecting the joy and passion for what you do is most important.

In a June 2014 interview, Rodney said he doesn't think skateboarding is just a "sport." He explained that it's an art form because of how much self-expression is involved. He also called it a "lifestyle" or "philosophy" because of how skaters share ideas and build a community. Rodney also shared his thoughts on goals and failure: "If you fix yourself to that goal, and you don't see anything else on the horizon...sometimes, if you attach that to a goal that is out of your reach, and you continue to fail, it will just grind you into nothing."

Rodney says, "Just the enjoyment of doing what you want to do, all the way through—that's the beauty of skateboarding... I can't wait to wake up in the morning to try something new; a lot of times I can't sleep because I can't wait to try something new... and that's why I skate."

Rodney Mullen's Personal Life

As of 2013, Rodney lives in California with his girlfriend, Lori Guidroz. He describes himself as "juvenile" and prefers to skate at night by himself. He says, "Any eyes on me... make me feel uncomfortable when I skate. Everyone expects me to do certain things. It puts a ceiling on your progress. You're blocked by your pride. To get good, you have to throw your board around and fall."

Besides skateboarding, Rodney is interested in math, physics, biomedical engineering (which he studied in college), computer coding, and music. He has been invited to several TEDX conferences. He owns powerful audio speakers and plays a wide range of music, from Sabaton to Beethoven. He enjoys feeling the music throughout his body. He has also learned Linux and calls himself a hacker.

Rodney is a Director's Fellow at the MIT Media Lab and a Distinguished Research Scholar with the Smithsonian Institution. He has also spoken at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab and the Royal Society. He is also on the scientific advisory board of the C4 Foundation.

In 2013, musicians Ben Harper and Lee Hartney said they are close friends with Rodney. They described him as a "brother." Rodney has also helped Ben Harper learn skateboarding later in his life.

Rodney has spoken about his spiritual beliefs. He has thanked "My Lord, Jesus, for all He's done for me" in his autobiography and has studied the Bible. But he said in 2010, "The term religion bums me out. I can't go to church, I've got issues... It's a personal thing and I get so scared about talking about it in public. This guy at HBO once said to me, 'Your skating is like a prayer.' That was the coolest thing anyone's ever said to me. That's what it is for me."

See also

In Spanish: Rodney Mullen para niños