Rodney Jesse: Skate Rider
04 April, 2019
Rodney Jesse, Part 2: Rodney Jesse was as well-known on the East Coast as he was on the Left Coast. In the Fall of 1977, Jesse landed the cover of Skate Rider, an East Coast mag published in Cocoa Beach by the Griffin brothers. During his session at the Spider bowl, a secret backyard pool located in Melbourne Beach, Jesse shared rides with a number of his East Coast counterparts. One of them was Clyde Rodgers, a radical skater from Daytona Beach who also rode for the Brewer team. “Rodney was the quintessential California skater,” recalls Rodgers, who now lives in Hawaii. Certainly, Jesse’s time in Florida and his high-speed moves inspired an upcoming generation of skaters to take things a step further. One of these individuals happened to be Mike Folmer, an unknown from West Palm Beach. By November 1978, Folmer was an unknown no more. Folmer’s early no-handed air, to some degree inspired by Rodney Jesse, won Folmer the biggest prize of all—the cover of SkateBoarder magazine.
Rodney Jesse: Style Maker
03 April, 2019
Make no doubt about it, Rodney Jesse was a style maker. His influence on skateboarding is less visible today due to a narrowed and controlled view of skate history, but his presence remains strong to those who knew him and got to see him ride. Still to come, an early photo of Jesse getting some no-handed air prior to the birth of the Ollie. This stunning image of Jesse taken by Surfer mag photographer Guy Motil and was the lead-in for Jesse’s interview in SkateBoarder mag.
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#asecrethistoryoftheollie #ollie #olliebook #rodneymullen #skateculture #surfculture #alangelfand #nataskaupas #markgonzales #skateboarding #skateboardinghistory #skatehistory #nonfiction #awardwinnningbook #skateboarding #skateboard #skateheritage #skateboardingheritage #skateboardingisfun #skateanddestroy #skateandcreate #skateordie
What If Skateboarding Didn't Have The Ollie?
27 September, 2018
This is a two-minute piece that WBUR in Boston put together for Craig Snyder's interview with National Public Radio / NPR about the book.
Designed and Printed in the USA
15 September, 2018
A Secret History of the Ollie was designed and printed in the USA. This is part of the reason we chose to work with Black Salt Press. With so many things being manufactured in China these days, we felt it was more important to support the US economy, US jobs, and the great printing industry that we have right here. This might have added a couple dollars more to the cost of this huge book, but we feel it was worth it. It is unfortunate that so many other US publishers out there—and you can name all the big ones—still print many of their books in China just save a few pennies. It might be better for their pocket, but it hurts the rest of us. — Craig B. Snyder
Website Redesign
16 August, 2018
Beginning in September, the redesign of the Ollie Book will get underway. We are changing the old pop-up menu interface (pictured) to make it easier and quicker to get to other pages on the site, plus giving the site a whole new look.