Russ Howell

Howell was born in September 1949 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, but moved with his family to Long Beach, California when he was nine months old.{{Cite book|last=Beal|first=Becky|title=Skateboarding: The Ultimate Guide|publisher=Greenwood|year=2013|isbn=978-0313381126|edition=1st|location=Santa Barbara|pages=63–64|oclc=}} Howell first began skateboarding at the age of 9 in 1958.{{Cite book|last=Brooke|first=Michael|title=The Concrete Wave: The History of Skateboarding|collaboration=Dan Gesner|publisher=Warwick Publishing|year=1999|isbn=978-1894020541|location=Toronto|pages=83|chapter=Russ Howell—Gymnastics Meets Freestyle}}{{Rp|83|quote=Russ began skating in 1958 at the age of nine.}} At the age of 19, Howell entered the United States Air Force, where his roommate got him interested in skiing. After his service, he received a two-year degree in mathematics from a junior college. From there, Howell studied physical education at California State University, Long Beach, eventually earning a Bachelor's degree in 1979.{{Cite web|last=Wagner|first=Dick|date=1985-10-31|title=Hanging 10 at 36: Pied Piper of Sidewalk Surfing Keeps His Wheels Spinning, Spinning|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-10-31-hl-13761-story.html|access-date=2021-10-07|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}

While working and going to school full-time, Howell began teaching people how to skateboard for free. Encouraged by his students to try competing in a skate contest, he enrolled as a competitor in the 1975 Dyno Championships in Huntington Beach Mall. Howell ended up placing first in the men's freestyle event, and was deemed the second-best overall skater.{{Cite web|title=Selected Skateboard Contests, 1963-1980|url=http://www.olliebook.com/look-inside/skateboarding-contests/|access-date=2021-10-07|website=A Secret History of the Ollie|language=en}} This was the first in a string of freestyle contest wins for Howell. Most notably, he won the senior men's freestyle event at the 1975 Bahne/Cadillac National Skateboard Championships in Del Mar, California, the same competition that helped propel the Z-Boys to notoriety.{{Cite web|last=Beato|first=G.|date=2001-08-24|title=When skateboarding shook the world|url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/aug/24/artsfeatures3|access-date=2021-10-08|website=The Guardian|language=en}}

Russ set a Guinness World record for longest handstand on a skateboard (2 minutes).{{cite web|last=Cave|first=Steve|date=2018-06-01|title=10 Skateboarding Records That Defy Gravity|url=https://www.liveabout.com/skateboarding-world-records-3002809|access-date=2021-10-07|website=LiveAbout|publisher=Dotdash}} In 1979, he set an unofficial record by performing 163 consecutive 360-degree spins on his skateboard.{{cite web|last=Dang|first=Katy|date=2008-07-02|title=Lifers|url=http://www.boiseweekly.com/boise/lifers/Content?oid=937239|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325120800/http://www.boiseweekly.com/boise/lifers/Content?oid=937239|archive-date=2012-03-25|access-date=2021-10-07|website=Boise Weekly|publisher=}}{{Rp|page=xvii|quote=1979: Freestyler Russ Howell performs 163 continuous 360 spins, setting the record.}} Russ is the first professional skateboarder and opened up the sport to professionalism. He served on many organizational boards in an effort to elevate the sport. He also worked in the Long Beach Unified School District as a substitute teacher. He is a member of the Thrasher Hall of Fame. He currently skates for Decomposed Skateboards.

During the 1970s, Russ Howell built his own wheels (Howell Freestyle Wheels) for his freestyle boards.{{Cite web|date=2014-07-07|title=Kryptonics Interviews: Russ Howell|url=https://kryptonics.com/interviews-blog/kryptonics-interviews-russ-howell|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905102959/https://kryptonics.com/interviews-blog/kryptonics-interviews-russ-howell|archive-date=2015-09-05|access-date=2021-10-07|website=Kryptonics}} In 1975, he was sponsored by Grentec, whose plastic skateboards he promoted. However, Howell became disillusioned with Grentec; according to him, the company did not pay him, and the boards he received felt cheap.{{Cite news|last=Rubin|first=Courtney|date=2015-07-22|title=Penny Skateboards Find a Niche|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/23/style/penny-skateboards-find-a-niche.html|access-date=2021-10-07|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite book|last=Mortimer|first=Sean|title=Stalefish: Skateboard Culture from the Rejects Who Made It|publisher=Chronicle Books|year=2008|isbn=9780811860420|location=San Francisco}}{{Rp|page=63|quote=Being sponsored by Grentec turned out to be an enormous mistake. They linked me with their stupid little cheap boards. It was an embarrassment. I could see why other skaters thought I had sold out. I was supposed to get $2,000 a month and a percentage of sales of a high-end professional model that was never manufactured. I never saw a dime off of that contract.}} In 1992, Howell moved to Boise, Idaho.

Howell is regarded as one of the earliest professional freestyle skateboarders who wanted to help skateboarding gain legitimacy as a sport. Stacy Peralta of the Z-Boys recalled that Howell "might have been one of the only skaters to get paid at the time" in 1975.{{Rp|page=62|quote=Russ Howell might have been one of the only skaters to get paid at the time [1975]. I know he was the first skateboarder to get a [mainstream] deal with Grentec. He even did TV commercials back then. But there was no such thing as a professional skateboarder as it's understood today.}} An issue of Skateboarder magazine that same year described him as "a model competitor", and that he "has done more than anyone to promote the credibility of skateboarding by taking it into the dance-art form stage."{{Cite magazine|date=September 1975|title=Who's Hot!: Russ Howell|magazine=Skateboarder|pages=56–57|quote=A model competitor and genuine "good guy", Russ has done more than anyone to promote the credibility of skateboarding by taking it into the dance-art form stage.}} Regarding his beliefs, Howell said, "I was a physical-education major, and I wanted to help integrate skateboarding into public school athletics and into a place where the International Olympic Committee would consider it a sport."{{Rp|page=62}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.skatewhat.com/russhowell/WebPage-Biography.html Official website]

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Category:American skateboarders

Category:Skateboarders from California

Category:Living people

Category:Freestyle skateboarders

Category:Sportspeople from Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Category:1949 births