:Patti McGee
{{Short description|American professional skateboarder (1945–2024)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| name = Patti McGee
| image = File:Skateboarder (magazine) October 1965 cover art.jpg
| caption = McGee on the October 1965 issue of Skateboarder
| birth_name = Patricia Ann McGee
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1945|8|23}}
| birth_place = Fort Lewis, Washington, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2024|10|16|1945|8|23}}
| death_place = Brea, California, U.S.
| occupation = Skateboarder
| years_active = 1957–1970
| height =
| spouse = Glen Villa
William Chase
| children = 2
| website =
| sport = Skateboarding
| event =
| team = Hobie/Vita Pak
| turnedpro = 1965
| worlds =
| nationals =
| country = United States
}}
Patricia Ann McGee (August 23, 1945 – October 16, 2024) was an American professional skateboarder. In 1964 she set a world speed record for women's skateboarding and became the first women's champion in the sport. She was the first woman professional skateboarder and the first woman inducted into the IASC Skateboarding Hall of Fame.
Early life and career
Patricia Ann McGee was born at the Fort Lewis Army post in Washington state, where her father was stationed at the time.{{cite news|url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/10/21/patti-mcgee-dead-skateboarding/|title = Patti McGee, first women’s pro skateboarder, dies at 79|last = Smith|first = Harrison|date = October 21, 2024|accessdate = October 22, 2024|newspaper = The Washington Post|url-access = limited}} She grew up in San Diego.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2024/11/14/patti-mcgee-skateboard-pioneer-primetime-tv-died-obituary/ |title=Patti McGee, skateboarding's first female champion, who took the sport on to primetime television |newspaper=Daily Telegraph |date=November 14, 2024 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.skateboardingheritage.org/archive/skateboarding-heritage-hall-of-fame/patti-mcgee-skateboarder/|title=PATTI McGEE|website=Skateboarding Heritage Foundation|access-date=2024-09-26}} Her first skateboard was built by her brother in wood shop from her own shoe skate as a surprise. Her second skateboard was a Bun Buster.[http://growsk8life.blogspot.com/2013/02/exclusive-interview-with-patti-mcgee.html G.R.O.W. SK8 LIFE * Girls Rippin On Wheels: exclusive interview with Patti McGee, first female professional skateboarder] In 1965 in the magazine Skateboarder, McGee recalled the first time she saw a skateboard and executed her first maneuver:{{Cite journal |date=October 1965 |editor-last=Severson |editor-first=John |title=Profile — Pat McGee: The Lady is a Champ |url=https://archive.org/details/skateboarder-magazine-vol-1-no-4/mode/2up |journal=Skateboarder Magazine |publisher=John Severson Publications |publication-place=Dana Point, CA |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=11 |via=Internet Archive}}
{{Blockquote|text=I saw my first skateboard about two years ago during Easter vacation when I was at the Hollywood Teen Fair. I had been asked by a sporting goods store to give away a skateboard every evening. One evening the kid who did the skateboard demonstrations didn't show up and they asked me to take his place. So in front of 1,500 kids I did my first skateboard demonstration—it was just a kick turn, but skateboarding was new then and nobody else knew many tricks then anyway.}}
While on the Cooley Team, and standing on a Bun Buster, McGee set the world record for the fastest woman on a skateboard at {{convert|47|mph|km/h}} during Dick Clark's World Teen Fair 1964, held at the Orange County Fair Grounds in California. She won the first women's skateboarding championship the same year, in Santa Monica; by then she had adopted a handstand as her signature board trick.
McGee was the first female professional skateboarder.{{cite book|last=Rompella|first=Natalie|title=Famous firsts: the trendsetters, groundbreakers & risk-takers who got America moving!|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bc-_uWnoZWwC&pg=PA48|access-date=September 25, 2010|date=October 31, 2007|publisher=Lobster Press|isbn=978-1-897073-55-1|page=48}} She was paid by Hobie/Vita Pak to travel and demonstrate the Hobie skateboard on a national level.{{cite web |url = http://blog.istia.tv/2011/10/patti-mcgee-interview-with-istia.html|title = Patti McGee interview with isTia |website = I Skate Therefore I Am |date = October 17, 2011 |access-date= October 27, 2012 }} This lasted almost a year until the craze subsided. During the tour, McGee appeared on the occupation-guessing TV game show What's My Line? on May 16, 1965, without a skateboard (but did not stump the panel), and with a skateboard on The Johnny Carson Show the following evening.[https://web.archive.org/web/20070211102951/http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/skateboarding/articles/index.asp?article=patti&topic=0 Scholastic News: Skateboarding] McGee was featured on the cover of Life magazine May 14, 1965, and the cover of the fourth issue of Skateboarder in October 1965.{{cite magazine |url = http://life.time.com/culture/skateboards-and-skateboarding-photos-1965/#1 |title = LIFE Goes Skateboarding, 1965 |author = Bill Eppridge |magazine = Time magazine |access-date = December 12, 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130112081721/http://life.time.com/culture/skateboards-and-skateboarding-photos-1965/#1 |archive-date = January 12, 2013 |url-status = dead }}{{cite web| last = Siljeg | first = Sky | title = A Talk with Patti McGee| publisher = Scholastic News| url = http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/skateboarding/articles/index.asp?article=patti| access-date = June 22, 2013}}
Recognition
In 2010, McGee became the first woman inducted into the IASC Skateboarding Hall of Fame.{{cite news | url= https://www.espn.com/action/skateboarding/news/story?id=5749227 | title= Six added to Skateboarding Hall of Fame | access-date= October 27, 2012| work= ESPN Action Sports| date= November 2, 2010}}{{cite web| last = Hoffman| first = Jana K. | title = First Female Inducted into Skateboarding Hall of Fame| publisher = BettyLife.com|url=http://www.bettylife.com/Skate/sbhalloffame.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120725025023/http://www.bettylife.com/Skate/sbhalloffame.html |archive-date=July 25, 2012 | access-date = July 25, 2012}} A picture book about her life by Tootie Nienow, There Goes Patti McGee!, was published in 2021.
Personal life and death
After living in Lake Tahoe for a time, McGee lived for many years in Cave Creek, Arizona, near Phoenix. She and her husband Glenn Villa had two children; her daughter Hailey Villa also became a skateboarder. She later remarried to William Chase, who predeceased her.
McGee died from complications of a stroke at her home in Brea, California, on October 16, 2024, at the age of 79.{{cite news |title=Patti McGee, the world's first professional women's skateboarder, passed away |url=https://www.surfertoday.com/skateboarding/patti-mcgee-the-worlds-first-professional-womens-skateboarder |access-date=18 October 2024 |publisher=Surfer Today |date=18 October 2024}}{{Cite web |last=Blakely |first=Brian |date=2024-10-18 |title=Rest in Peace, Patti McGee: A True Skateboarding Icon (1945-2024) |url=https://www.skateboarding.com/trending-news/rest-in-peace-patti-mcgee |access-date=2024-10-19 |website=TransWorld SKATEboarding Magazine }}
References
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Category:American female skateboarders
Category:American skateboarders
Category:Skateboarders from San Diego
Category:Sportspeople from Brea, California