Many excellent skaters have become legends because of their achievements. In this sport, each of them has their style, skateboarding skills, and dedication.
Some people are not skilled in their skills, but with their dedication to the skateboarding community, they have become the best skateboarders of all time.
Others are more inclined towards a sliding style, such as some just create huge gaps when jumping, and some are famous for their dangerous tackles. Skateboard Cast!
Let’s take a look at 19 legendary skaters in the article.
Top 19 Best Skateboarders Of All Time
Tony Alva
- Date of birthday: September 2, 1957
- Hometown: Santa Monica, California, USA
Tony Alva is a member of the Z boys – the Zephyr Competition Skateboarding Team. He joined the team in 1972, and by the age of 19, he founded his own company and operated in the same field. This turning point gave rise to the name Alva Skates – the first company run by an athlete.
Tony Alva’s company has designed and built several skateboarding devices to improve speed dramatically. Alva is also a pioneer in the production of Canadian laminated plywood sliding floors.
Tony is known as a skilled vertical skater. He was one of the first few trainers to successfully pull off a pull on Frontside Air in the record books. Alva and other Z boys members Jay Adams and Stacey Peralta were the first to set the record.
Alva’s achievements are also highly respectable. In 1977, he became the champion in the Men’s Overall World Professional Skateboard Champion tournament.
When he was 20 years old, he was named in the Skateboarders of the Year poll organized by Skateboarders magazine.
In addition, Tony Alva also achieved several other achievements, such as: in 1977, he set a Guinness world record in barrel jumping, and in 1999 received the X Games Lifetime Achievement Award.
Jay Adams
- Date of birthday: 3/2/1961
- Hometown: Venice, California, USA
- Date of death: August 15, 2014, in Mexico
Jay Adams was born Jay J. Adams. Like Tony Alva, he is a member of Z boys. It is worth noting that he became a skateboarder in 1974. At this time, Adams was only 13 years old, so he became the team’s youngest member.
He has been sponsored by many famous figures and names throughout his skateboarding career, such as Hurley, Nixon, or Osiris Shoes.
By 2012, noticing Jay Adams’ talent and relentless efforts towards skateboarding, he was inducted into the skateboarding hall.
Stacy Peralta from the player’s comment that “Jay Adams is probably not the greatest skater of all time, but I can say without fear of being wrong that he is the archetype of modern-day skateboarding.”
Illustrated in his memory in Venice, a total of 2 pictures are located at the Zephyr skate shop and the Venice skate park. Jay Adams’ dedication has become a professional role model for all skaters today and in the future.
Stacy Peralta
- Date of birthday: October 15, 1957
- Hometown: Venice, California, USA
Stacy Peralta’s birth name was Stacy Douglas Peralta. He was a professional skateboarder at 19, and now he ranks at the top of all lists. It can be that Peralta is one of the most influential names in the history of skateboarding.
At the height of his career, Stacy Peralta joined hands with George Powell and founded Powell Peralta. The company focused on developing good skate shoes, so by the 80s, they had successfully turned Powell Peralta into one of the best skate shoe brands.
Following the success and financial backing of Powell Peralta, he went on to found Bones Brigade. At that time, Bones Brigade was the team with the best skaters. So, it puts a lot of pressure on the entire athlete and other skaters.
Soon after, to inspire skaters, Peralta started producing videos. His debut video is directly related to his skateboarding team under the name Bones Brigade Video Program.
He also wrote and produced many documentaries about skating, notably Dogtown and Z-Boys, Bones Brigade: An Autobiography, and Lords of Dogtown.
Alan “Ollie” Gelfand
- Date of birthday: 1963
- Hometown: New York, USA
If you are a skateboarder or passionate about this sport, it is impossible not to know the nickname Ollie.
After Alan Gelfand performed a slip-sliding accident in the air, a figure skater friend Scott Goodman gave him Ollie. Since then, he has been better known as Ollie than Alan Gelfand. It wasn’t long before the term ollie Pop appeared. It can be that Alan Gelfand is the biological father of this skateboarding skill.
Stacy Peralta and George Powell’s company, Powell Peralta, immediately recruited Gelfand. They aimed for his professional skateboarding skills and made him the first member of innovation. And this new team is the Bones brigade. In addition to Gelfand, two other famous characters in the group, Mike McGill and Rodney Mullen.
Then in the mid-80s, Gelfand brought innovation to the skateboarding community when he turned the sport into vert, street, and freestyle. Although they are three different sports, basically, we can see Ollie pop has become the majority of street skateboarding tricks.
Rodney Mullen
- Date of birthday: August 17, 1966
- Hometown: Gainesville, Florida, USA
Rodney Mullen is one of the best skateboarders of all time, and he is the most influential street skater. So until now, Rodney Mullen is still a feverish name in the skateboarding enthusiast community, especially street skaters.
Rodney Mullen is the creator of many fantastic skateboarding tricks, one of which is Ollie on the plane or Kickflip, heelflip, 360-flip, and Impossible. With the techniques he created, people called him the “Godfather of Street Skateboarding.”
Mullen’s achievements also make others admire him. He won his first world skateboard championship when he was only 14 years old. He then won 34 fights out of 35 freestyle competitions over the next ten years. It can be that Mullen has been successful on the skateboarding track.
Initially, Mullen was just a freestyle athlete. During the transition to street skateboarding, he made adjustments to his skills. The tricks invented and extended to this day are numerous. There are 32 skills but most notably Darksiders, Casper, and Primo.
Tony Hawk
- Date of birthday: 12/5/1968
- Hometown: San Diego, California, USA
Tony Hawk was the first professional skateboarder to hit the 900 mark in mid-1999.
900 is a trick that requires players to complete a spin in the air like a skateboard. After 12 failed attempts, he finally successfully spun 2, and a half turns to complete the trick.
Immediately after successfully making a 900 swing, Hawk decided to part ways with his professional playing career. Although he continued to appear and perform at the X Games after that, in 2003, he stopped altogether.
At this time, he is not seen at the tournament anymore. Instead, there are countless movies and videos about skateboarding. There are also documentaries as well as TV series.
Until December 2011 at Transworld Skateboarding magazine, Tony Hawk was voted and rated as one of the all-time skaters; his ranking is only behind Mark “The Gonz” Gonzales.
As of April 2020, Tony Hawk has been targeted and sponsored by many brands for his career, including Independent Trucks, Birdhouse, Vans, Bones, and Nixon. Currently, he owns a Pro skate model called Independent Trucks.
Mark Gonzales
- Date of birthday: 1/6/1968
- Hometown: South Gate, California, USA
Mark Gonzales, also known as Gonz or The Gonz, is one of the pioneers of modern street skateboarding.
By 2006, Mark Gonzales had received the legendary award for Gonzales of Transworld Skateboarding.
In 2011 he was named Most Influential Skateboarder of All Time in Transworld Skateboarding magazine. Behind him are names like Tony Hawk and Rodney Mullen – who are also on our list.
Not only is he a professional skateboarder, but he is also a poet and writer.
As a multi-talented person, he left behind many works of art. Typical is the design and painting of the London Flagship Supreme store or several other sculptures and drawings for Supreme retail locations.
By 2013, Mark Gonzales had received sponsorship from 5 brands: Adidas, Independent, Krooked, Spitfire and Supreme. As recently as 2016, Gonzales joined Pro-Tec – a professional skateboarding team.
Bob Burnquist
- Date: 10/10/1976
- Hometown: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The full name of this athlete is Robert Dean Silva Burnquist. He has a great passion for this sport and gave up everything to become a professional skateboarder at 14.
Bob is known for his expertise in transition skateboarding and new vert tricks.
For Bob Burnquist, skateboarding tricks always have to be creative and more complex, better, more precise.
Every time he appears in front of a crowd, he shows off new skateboarding techniques, but the most characteristic is still Smith grinding with one foot.
It wasn’t until he was 21 years old that he entered the era of good results when he won the third month of the vert competition in San Francisco in 1997.
Bob developed into a professional skater quite late, while other players have reached world-class level by the age of 16.
However, these people did not last long, and Bob is the person with the longest skateboarding career in history up to the present time.
In 2000, he had a tight competition that made the audience hold their breath in San Francisco. With a world-class performance by Fakie 5 – 0 when he couldn’t get his fake kick off the crossbar, he brought home the battle for himself.
And since 2000, Bob has held the championship for 17 consecutive years.
Winning skaters in 3 or 4 years is impressive, but Bob has made a legend. Seventeen years is an awe-inspiring number. During this time, Bob became undefeated and did not give the other players any chance.
Daewon Song
- Date of Birthday: 19/2/1975
- Hometown: Seoul, South Korea
Daewon Song is a Korean-American professional skateboarder known for his unique street skating skills. Daewon Song’s most impressive performance was the jump at the Great Wall of China.
He is also known for many other achievements, such as in 2014 winning in 2 Berrics competitions, 2UP, and In Transition. In some nominations, Daewon Song has a significant advantage over other skaters.
In 2006, Thrasher magazine named him skateboarder of the year.
It is the most prestigious and noble award that many other athletes always want to reach in skateboarding. A year later, Daewon Song appeared on the front page of the magazine in the April issue.
In December 2011, Daewon Song was named on the list of “30 most influential skaters of all time” on Transworld SKATEboarding’s digital platform with his contributions and achievements.
He has been the co-owner of a skateboard company with Rodney Mullen and has received sponsorship from many companies and famous brands such as Most, DVS Shoes, Mob, Glassy, etc.
Chris Cole
- Date of birthday: 10/30/1982
- Hometown: Statesville, North Carolina, United States
Chris Cole is nicknamed Cobra in the skateboarding community, and he is an excellent performer of some difficult tricks. Many people have noticed him through the Video Transworld in Bloom and Fallen Ride the Sky.
In 2005 and 2009, Chris Cole was present at Thrasher magazine’s Skater of the Year awards festival. It is worth noting that only two people won two prestigious awards for motivation of the year, Chris Cole and Danny Way.
In addition, in the peer-reviewed magazine Transworld, Chris Cole won the ‘reader’s choice award.
Cole’s record is also excellent. He and his teammate Zero have won Thrasher Magazine’s King of the Road 3 times in a row. He is also one of the few athletes to win consecutive gold medals at the X Olympics.
In addition, he has participated in and won many other competitions such as DC Copenhagen Pro and Back to the Berg. By mid-2013, he won the prestigious gold medal in the Street League Skateboarding competition in the X Games’ Munich stage.
Besides professional skaters, Cole is also known as a BMX racer. A co-owner of the Reign Skate Shop and a notorious sponsor for another group of avid racers.
Chris Haslam
- Date of birthday: December 19, 1980
- Hometown: Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Next on the list is the legend from Canada, born in 1980.
When he was 18 years old, he began to devote a lot of time to skateboarding. He chose the Richmond skate park and outside Vancouver as a place to practice and hone his skills. Thanks to his ongoing efforts, Chris Haslam has become the ruler of the park.
Before that success, Chris Haslam received the trust and fans of his family, friends, and other skaters. By 2005, he was present at the 7th annual Transworld Skateboarding Awards and received the reader’s choice award. That’s what’s fully deserved for Chris Haslam’s contribution to skateboarding.
In July 2012, Chris Haslam participated in an online advertisement for his close friend Leftover Hardware. In the same year, he was co-creator at a tape brand with a friend in a video segment.
In 2019, he went on to found a company called Brainchild. The direction of this company is to contribute to the community. So part of the proceeds from the sale is donated to help with mental health and suicide prevention.
Bam Margera
- Date of birthday: September 28, 1976
- Hometown: West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA
Bam Margera is not a professional skateboarder, but he is a very influential person. He started as a skater, but he succeeded in MTC shows and stunts performed with the Jackass crew.
It can be that skateboarding is the stepping stone to the success of today. In the skateboarding culture or community, Bam Margera only plays a passive role, but thanks to that, the personal brand received a lot of attention right after its launch.
People know Bam Margera through videos of friends skateboarding. He was the one who did a lot of stunts, so his team became CKY.
With this success, celebrities began to take notice of the videos and brought Bam Margera to the team that included Jeff Tremaine, a former Big Brother editor. He eventually became MTV’s Jackass.
There’s no denying his popularity, appearing in his assortment of MTV movies and other shows.
For two years at the start of his career, Toy Machine Skateboards sponsored him, and since 2001, Bam has been a member of the Element team, a team that demonstrates Skateboards.
Then in 2017, he ended his skateboarding career, but he had a partnership with Element Skateboards by chance. So, to put it another way, Bam’s career continues to involve skateboarding.
Nyjah Huston
- Date of birthday: 30/11/1994
- Hometown: Davis, California, USA
Nyjah Huston is the name with the highest ratings right now, and he is the top Skater that any player knows by name. This time Nyjah Huston is practicing to prepare for the biggest competition of his life.
He is representing the United States team at this year’s Tokyo Summer Olympics. It is the biggest competition because 2021 is a milestone marking a significant change for skateboarding when it becomes an official sport as the implementation of the Olympic competition.
With talent and enthusiasm, Nyjah Huston attracted the interest of Element Skateboards and joined their team. In the beginning, he participated in many films, so he naturally became the face of the public.
Like the other names on our list, Nyjah Huston excellently won 3 awards at the Transworld SKATEboarding awards event in 2012, respectively Best Video, Best Road, and Special Mention voted by the awarding board as “the choice of the new era animal.”
He has also appeared many times on Thrasher Magazine’s prestigious Skater Of The Year nomination list. However, he has yet to win the award as of 2020.
By early 2021 Element had withdrawn and no longer sponsored him, but many other famous brands continued to support Nyjah Huston. Typically Nike SB, Diamond Supply Co., Social CBD, Doritos, Ricta Wheels, Monster Energy, Mob Grip. According to some information, he is one of the highest-paid athletes.
Andrew Reynolds
- Date of birthday: 5/5/1978
- Hometown: Lakeland, Florida, USA
As a professional skateboarder, Andrew Reynolds is a legendary name we cannot ignore. In 2000, he co-founded Baker Skateboards along with another best skateboarders of all time, Jay Strickland. And as of now, he is the sole owner of the company.
In terms of achievements, Andrew Reynolds took home the prestigious Thrasher Magazine Skater of the Year award in 1998.
Besides, a skateboarding video of his 2010 Stay Gold successfully named the “video section” best award by Transworld Skateboarding magazine.
Andrew Reynolds is also a gold sponsor for skate-related brands. Then in 2007, he stood up with Erik Ellington and Jim Greco to form Baker Boys Distribution. His company specializes in providing distribution services to skateboard companies.
Although the company has not been around for a long time, the company has released 13 Emerica signature shoe models as of the end of 2018.
They include The Reynolds 1, The Reynolds Light, The AR Slim, The Reynolds 2, The Reynolds 3, The Boss, Reynolds Cruisers, The Reynolds Classics, Reynolds Low Vulc, The Reynolds, Low Reynolds, Reynolds 3 G6, and Reynolds G6.
However, by the end of 2019, Reynolds decided to part ways with Emerica. And now he is sponsored by many other famous brands such as Baker Skateboards, Brigada, Independent, Vans, Spitfire Wheels, Shake Junt, and Stance.
Rob Dyrdek
- Date of birthday: September 28, 1974
- Hometown: Kettering, Ohio, USA
As soon as he was 12 years old, Rob Dyrdek started his skateboarding career and received sponsorship from many companies.
But a few years later, he parted ways with his current sponsor to attend an alien workshop with his friends Neil Blender.
He was followed by establishing the Alien Workshop – the new enthusiasm of 3 people, Neil Blender, Chris Carter, and Mike Hill.
When he was 16, Rob Dyrdek decided to drop out of his senior year of high school to pursue a career in skateboarding professionally in Southern California.
Here he joined the company Droors Clothing and became DC Shoes. In addition, he also received sponsorship from Silver Trucks, EA Skate, and Monster Energy.
In addition to grants and awards, Rob Dyrdek is also one of the founders and organizers of the SLS Street League Skateboarding competition.
This contest of his, right after its debut, cooperated with the American men’s and women’s clubs. As a result, skateboard parks are constantly being built all over California.
Along with this competition, a variety of films grew and turned SLs into full-fledged international events.
In addition, Rob Dyrdek also appeared on the airwaves in the game Skating and Skating 2. Many movies and TV shows, and documentaries occur as a golden face in the Rob Dyrdek skateboarding industry.
Chad Muska
- Date of birthday: May 20, 1977
- Hometown: Lorain, Ohio
Chad Muska started coming to the sport of skateboarding with enthusiasm at a very young age. While living in Arizona, he met an Arizona professional skateboarder. Since then love for skateboarding began to blossom.
However, this time has only just started, and the two have yet to set foot in the world of professional skateboarding.
When he moved to California, he faced many difficulties, but he successfully met Maple and appeared in the video Rites of Passage 1994. Right after he ended his relationship with Maple, he joined Toy Machine and became their top player.
During this time, with his talent, he attracted the interest of many sponsors such as Elissa Steamer and Toy Machine. As a simulated skateboarding duo, during the 90s, Chad Muska appeared in many television shows.
We can’t deny Chad Muska’s influence on skateboarding culture. Therefore, in the December 2011 issue of Transworld magazine, he became the 12th most influential athlete of all time.
The 90s are considered the golden age of Chad Muska. He continuously receives sponsorship from many brands. In the late 90s, he focused on designing shoes and became famous when they quickly became popular in most countries.
Shane O’Neill
- Date of birthday: 3/1/1990
- Hometown: Melbourne Australia
Shane O’Neill is currently one of the most famous skaters in the world. He was born in Australia and participated in many world-class skate competitions, notably the X Games, Street League and Dew Tour. And in particular, he rarely left the podium.
Given Shane O’Neill’s talent and contribution to skateboarding culture, he fully deserves to be one of the best skateboarders of all time.
Shane O’Neill has excellent control of the skateboard. Thanks to this incredible style, he consistently wins competitions.
Others commented that he skated like in a video game. Although Shane O’Neill is more known for his horseback riding, nonetheless with his great talent, he received acclaim from every athlete as well as others in the skateboarding industry,
Assuming Shane O’Neill participates in the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, he is the only athlete not from Bain or the US with a great chance of winning. From there, we can see the influence and talent of Shane O’Neill.
Leticia Bufoni
- Date of birthday: April 13, 1993
- Hometown: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Leticia Bufoni is the only female Skater to make our list. Like all Brazilian racers, she plays soccer, although she spends more of her life in the United States.
Perhaps thanks to her ability to control the ball skillfully with her feet when playing ball, she has excellent control of the skateboard. So she is one of the best skaters of her generation.
She participated in many tournaments from significant to small during her career, the remarkable achievement being 6 X Games medals and countless other awards from the Dew Tour. In the street tournament held in 2015, Leticia Bufoni won first prize.
She is not the most impressive Skater, but her bravery to try any tricky trick has made Leticia Bufoni a worthy competitor to many other professional athletes.
Although in 2015 she was entangled in a big market scandal that caused many negative comments, we cannot deny her talent in skateboarding.
Jason Lee
- Date of birthday: April 25, 1970
- Hometown: California, USA
You might be surprised that a familiar face from the hugely popular sitcom My Name Is Earl is on our list.
Today, he is a famous character as the leading actor in the above movie as well as a series of other films. However, before embarking on a film career, he was a professional skateboarder. The peak of the period was from the late 1980s to the 90s when he appeared in Blind Skateboard’s Video Days.
Jason Lee’s connection to skateboarding can be for a short time but still impacts skateboarding culture.
For example, his image appeared in Tony Hawk’s Project 8 and the game Skate 3. They introduced him to a whole new generation of skaters.
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Conclusion
Above is a list of the 19 best skateboarders of all time that we have compiled. Hopefully, the information will help you have more exciting knowledge about the sport of skateboarding.
Don’t forget to share this article with your many friends who may have the same passion for skateboarding as you, and they can see their idol on this list.
Last but not least, don’t hesitate to leave a comment if you want to express your personal opinion. Thank you for reading!
