Rodney Mullen

Despite his father’s best wishes, Rodney Mullen began skateboarding at the age of 10. Just one year later, he placed 3rd in his first skateboarding event and attracted the attention of Bruce Walker, earning his first sponsorship from Walker Skateboards. Over the course of the next 3 years, Mullen entered over 30 tournaments and took home first place in every single one of them. His success attracted national recognition and in 1980 Mullen joined the Powell-Peralta Bones Brigade. Mullen went on to be nicknamed “The Godfather of Skateboarding”, being accredited with inventing almost 30 tricks that are still regularly used to this day including the kickflip, the heelflip, and the flatground ollie. Mullen has appeared in many skating videos, he has written an autobiography entitled The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself, and in 1990 co-created World Industries. Mullen went on to start the Almost skateboarding brand and has helped the company grow to producing numerous innovations and movies.