11.06.2011

don't mess with #716












"I skate for fun and that's it. And if I don't have fun, you'll see me quit.... hey, that rhymed!"

The Lone Star innovator, Jeff Phillips. One of the best to ever do it.

Never seen this before. So sick.

Rest in Peace to Jeff and Mr. James Van Doren.

16 comments:

Leiv said...

Man, I was just watching some of his contest footage the yesterday. How sick is that photo of him at the Turf?!
RIP

vapors said...

Awesome.

t.a. said...

That second to last photo.. I remember that Transworld being one of their best. Seems fitting that vert ruled in the 80's - those dudes charged hard. Phillips forever.

Anonymous said...

i never noticed all the rainbow socks before.

Giles said...

I believe he was rumored to be on acid at the trashmore contest where he beat hawk.

MrVacation said...

He was on mushrooms. I was at that contest, saw Gator punch the cop(was standing about 20 feet way), rocked some street plants at the Vallely street plant session(my friend I was with at the contest with was hassling him about how to do ho-ho plants and ended up figuring out how to do them later for better or for worse)and met Neil Blender. Good times. RIP Jeff Phillips

Keith said...

Texas had some serious gnarly vert skaters in the 80's!

That clips is awesome. What is the name of that invert he's doing? The one where, by today's jargon, would be called a switch fs invert, or something along those lines?

Giles said...

the phillips 66. the fakie to 360 frontside invert. not many people ever rocked that trick. i think bucky lasik busts it out every once in a while. there was also the phillips 33. i think there's one in that clip. what i want to know is what is he oing in the still life shot. indy to fakie? half indy twist? he had this singular ability to get into really odd contortions above the lip.

Anonymous said...

So stoked on this. I grew up riding at Jeff's park. Jeff will always be my favorite skater of all time.

As for the acid/ shrooms story--that was actually the 1986 NSA Finals in Anaheim. You can find the footage on Youtube. The footage is from Vision's Holiday Havoc VHS.

Anyway, thanks for posting. :)

Oh, and if you're in Dallas next weekend, stop by Mike Crum's park, Overground Project, for Creature Skateboards Shut Up And Rumble. Vert jam all weekend, mini ramp contest, new street course, bands, beers, hot rods, pin-up girls, Rune Glifberg, Jake Brown, etc. I'm sure a lot of the old guys will come out of the woodwork for this one as well. Cheers.

AgGRo MaG said...

Phillips 33 = Switch Egg

The list for Phillips 66 Today:
Gentry
Bucky
Hawk
Frazier
Pennington

Anonymous said...

loved JP, he was always a rad dark horse to root for in the hawk/hosoi vert battles of the mid-to-l80's.

and it broke my heart when he did himself in. back then, i was a mere 20 year old, and i worried that i'd find myself in that sort of despair as well at age 30... i figured that would be my mid-life crisis.

and now here i am at 38, wondering if i'll ever match half the private glory JP experienced. i sure as shit can't do phillips 66's.

anyhoo, thanks big for this one.

-deepconcentration

mikebythesun said...

Much respect to Jim. That pic of him doing the disaster on that mini on the beach is a snapshot of what I'd be doing if I hit the lottery. Heaven.

He made his mark and stands the test of time. RIP Jim, wherever you may be.

Skately said...

Was always stoked on his skull and crossbones helmet as a kid. All those Texas guys had a certain level of mystique and just seemed tough as nails. I even dug when Craig Johnson used to rock his hair out the top of his helmet. Haha.

chops said...

Thanks guys.

Craig Johnson post coming soon...

Keith said...

"mikebythesun said...

Much respect to Jim. That pic of him doing the disaster on that mini on the beach is a snapshot of what I'd be doing if I hit the lottery. Heaven."

Life's a Beach shorts and all.

justin said...

I didn't get the title of this one at first. 716 is my area code and the whole time I was thinking, Jeff's not from Western New York.

Those contest runs were insane. The airs to fakie were awesome.