We have to hand it to Tony Hawk — the dude is keeping it real in his old age. While most alternative celebrities in their 50s are either terrifying meth casualties or sober Jesus-loving dietary-supplement vendors, the forefather of modern skateboarding is still doing rad shit all the time. In January, Tony landed a 720 for perhaps the last time at age 52; now, he’s released 100 skateboards painted in his own blood — for a good cause, of course.
As reported by Metal Injection, the boards, created in partnership with Liquid Death and illustrated with Hawk’s blood mixed into the paint, are available via the ultra-butch canned water company’s website. A portion of the proceeds from the sales will go toward 5 Gyres, an institute that empowers action against the global health crisis of plastic pollution through science, art, education, and adventure; and The Skatepark Project, which is a skateboarding organization that helps communities build public skate parks for youth in underserved communities. As of now, the decks are sold out, but who knows — Tony’s probably got more blood in him, right?
Check out the design below:
And here’s a trailer for the project:
It’s cool to see that despite being older, wiser, and perhaps a little more bruised and scarred than your average bear, Tony Hawk is still selling items for charity that contain a portion of his blood. It only furthers Hawk’s legend as a for-the-people punk rock skatebaorder. Metal is a world where ageism can go fuck itself, where young upstarts and the old guard can play back to back from each other on the same festival stage. Tony will always be a dude who pioneered his craft, and for that, we tip our wide-brimmed Suicidal Tendencies hat to him.
Here’s a video of Tony pulling off a 900 at 48 years old, which is more than we’ll do at 48, we promise.
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Words by Chris Krovatin
