Watch Tony Hawk Pull Off 50 Amazing Tricks To Celebrate 50th Birthday
The greatest skateboarder ever has still got it.
Most 50-year-old athletes are a shadow of their former selves, but Tony Hawk isn’t your average athlete.
The skateboarding legend began pioneering mind-blowing vertical tricks before most people had even heard of the sport. To celebrate the big 5-0, Hawk threw down 50 amazing tricks he invented over his decades-long career for a video featured on the Ride YouTube channel. “Clampdown” by The Clash serves as a fittingly aggro soundtrack to his aerial acrobatics.
“I realized very quickly that they’re not as easy as they used to be,” he said after a particularly gnarly bail. “Some of these, they’ll be the last time I do them. But that’s OK, we had a good run.”
Moves like the 720 (that’s a 720-degree rotation) are still staples of big air contests to this day. Others—like the “Alley-oop Shove-it Crooks to Fakie” he creates on the spot during his final run—are technical variations that seasoned skaters can geek out over. Sadly, his X-Games-winning 900 doesn’t make the cut.
See all of the grabs, plants, flips and spins “The Birdman” pulled out of thin air in the video above, and check out our five favorite tricks below:
Gymnast – 1982
” tml-embed-width=”480″ tml-embed-height=”270″ tml-render-layout=”inline
Finger Flip Air – 1982
” tml-embed-width=”480″ tml-embed-height=”270″ tml-render-layout=”inline
Madonna – 1984
” tml-embed-width=”480″ tml-embed-height=”270″ tml-render-layout=”inline
720 – 1985
” tml-embed-width=”480″ tml-embed-height=”270″ tml-render-layout=”inline
Varial McTwist – 1990
” tml-embed-width=”480″ tml-embed-height=”270″ tml-render-layout=”inline
h/t: Bro Bible
Read This Next
