Ripped Rippers 1/2

R.I.P- Dead Skaters part 1/2

In the history of skateboarding are a few rippers who stepped off the board forever. Those skaters in this list we could remember. R.I.P. shredders.

1. Jeff Phillips born ??.??.????; died December 25th, 1993

He is a real tragic case. Used to be Texas finest back in the 80`s. He ripped at vert. By the early 90`s, when vert skating wasn`t the prominent thing to do anymore, he opened up a skatepark and still shredded the fuck out of every ramp in sight. 

What led him to commite suicide with a .357 Magnum  remains mysterious. For a full length story, check this very well written article from "Rolling Stone Mag".

 

2. Kit Errickson born ??.??.????; died January 30th, 1997

He was one of the many on the OG H-Street squad. Had a montage part with Sal Barbier in "Hokus Pokus", then got on Ron Allen`s "Life skateboards", with team mates like Sheffey, Ron Allen etc. Heavy hitting team. Kit`s part in "Soldiers Story" is fucking heavy slept on. He did some really heavy shit back in 1991, when this was filmed. 

Later after Life folded he found a place on "Sonic Skateboards" and kept shredding. He passed because of a non skate related head injury.

3. Pat Brennen born ??.??.????; died February 1st, 1997

Pat Brennen, early 90`s Powell Pro. He turned pro after the original Bones Brigade fucked off and founded their own companies. His first part in Powell`s video "8" was fucking wow. Front foot impossibles down stairs and impossibles over fire hydrants weren`t the standart yet.

He had one of the most underrated video parts in the history of street skating Check his part from "Celebrity Tropical Fish" before continuing reading.

So what have we got to see? Laserflips, sw ollie boardslide on handrails, nollie heelflips in lines, 360 ollies and bigspin heelflips in one line. That was mega ill for 1991-1992. I think Pat Brennen is still a super heavy slept on ripper. The man was really up front tech. 

After 3 video parts in 2 years for Powell he joined Lance Mountains "The Firm". Except of some tricks in a 411 Industry section, I haven`t seen any more footage. One of his last boards had a graphic which is in retrospetive- scary!!!!!

Pat Brennen died in a car accident.

 

  

4. Phil Shao born December 28th, 1973; died August 22nd, 1998

Look at this "Thrasher" cover. Yep, it`s Fort Miley. The spot is truly fucking hard to ride. Those banks are tiny rough and steep as fuck. To ollie up this shoulder high handrail speaks for Phil Shaos skills on the board. That man had some serious pop. A very good example for his ollie skills is this pic below. Rumors go that he ollied from the ditch on the block, to ollie back in- SICK AS FUCK!!!!!

His video is speed, style, pop and control. Damn it was refreshing to see a guy banging out headhigh tricks after the skate scene has just recovered from the slow ass flip shit, from the big pants small wheels era.

  
Phil Shao got killed in a car accident.

5. Tim Brauch born April 26th, 1974; died May 9th, 1999

Tim Brauch gets his well deserved "Thrasher" cover in the Jan 1993 issue. Pay attention to the size of wheels- bearing covers my friend. Fucking bearing covers!!!!! But despite the fact that this was shot in the before mentioned dark era of skateboarding, the krooked grind is no joke. Fucking rough waist high front truck killer.
I met him in 1997 at the World Cup. He was very down to earth and had a couple of beers on the parking lot in front of the Contest arena. Very funny chat and we were both pretty smashed at mid day time. Well I just had to film, but he was facing semi finals. Dude was so consistent that he qualified for the finals and I think the next day he placed pretty high in the money ranks. True skater!!!!!

That he was a funny guy is very well portrait with his "Forr est Gump" cameo. He passed due to a sudden heart attack.

6. Keenan Milton born August 4th, 1974; died July 5th,2001

Keenan Milton- happy face with one of the smothest styles in the game. I reckon thats why he shared a part with Gino in "Mouse". Tight East Coast connection! You know man?! Lets watch the short part from "Mouse" before I go into detail

Ok, this one is from 1996 and for Monster Energy hyped kids no t even worth to be called "Webclip". But come on this here is style in perfection. Smooth and effordless. To call it out like the old fuck I am: Back in the days those tricks were some next level shit. Look at Keenans last trick: Sw kickflip over the picknick table. The trick is BAAAMMMM straight in your face, but the little extra which makes it special is the kickturn back to normal stance. That is the style we want to see. 
Shame he got a "Skateboarder cover" because he drowned at a party in a swimming pool.
All those chief editors should have given him this as a cover when he was still alive.

7. Pepe Martinez born March 11th, 1973; died September 26th,2003

Pulaski Park Washington DC, Chris Halls mate, one of the best sw and regular bs flips in the game, plaza skating before Kalis made Love Park prominent again, Barca and all those fancy China ledge spots were`nt even about to dreamed of. 

Pepe Martinez grew up in DC and fucking ripped and styled through Pulaski Park  and other memorable USA CAPITAL spots.
His 1st impression he knocked into my brain was when the "Underworld Element" video "Skypager" was released in late 1992- 1993. That was straight fucking ghetto style. Ahhh yeah that was the company with the urban realness that would later become the eco friendly Bam Magera sponsoring shit that is called "Element". It`s still a video that gets me hyped, because of the fucking roughness. Yeah yeah- this is big pants and small whells at it`s best, but the fucking feel is beyond that. Homemade beats, garage skating in the winter, bro cam- that`s what I call REAL!!!!! ... but here is the part:

That got me pumped, two years later with less baggy jeans and proper sized wheels followed "Fine Artists". The "Underworld" got already dropped from the name so "Element" remained. Who fucking cared, we couldn`d predict the fucked up future. Pepes part in this one here is ultimate style. If you hate his 180 bs flip (at 0:53) down those stairs, you propably hate skateboarding in general. Check the smoothness.

After "Element" he skated for "Capital" in the Capital. Some shared DC footage.

 


Pepe Martinez died of a brain aneurysm, result of a blood clot that had developed at his brain stem due to a head trauma suffered in 2001.

That was it for part 1, part 2 is here.

Words by FOG (I don`t care about typos or gramma- fuck that shit!!!!!)

Thanks to: 
The Chrome Ball Incident  
Skately.com 
for their permission to rip their archives