9781422284216

GREATEST MOMENTS

If there’s a Michael Jordan of extreme sports, it is Tony Hawk. The first time he ever landed the 900 (a 2.5-revolution aerial spin), it was the skateboarding equivalent of watching MJ stuff home his signature free- throw-line dunk. Up until 1999, nobody in the skateboarding world had ever successfully gotten all the way around for the full 2.5 spins, but at the X Games that year, Hawk finally nailed the 900 after failing his 10 previous attempts. He actually completed the trick after his allotted time had expired but won “Best Trick” anyway to the chagrin of some of his contemporaries, but had he not been allowed to continue (the announcers at the time joked, “We make up the rules as we go along!”), one of the most memorable moments in skateboarding history might never have happened. Tony Hawk Dials Up the First-Ever 900 (1999)

8