Texas Style Skateboarding

 Photos sent courtesy of Neil Rosser  who was lucky enough to ride these two cool parks in TX - Mid Cities DFW area and  one in El Paso.

 I never got to skate Mid Cities when it was open, but discovered it years later abandoned and bowls filled with water.  I grabbed my 70's skateboard and headed out one day in 1984.  It was the first time I skated a real skatepark as a grad student attending UTA.  So stoked and so fun.  I had no idea this was the beginning of my future being set up.
 While skating I ran into another guy that showed up to skate that mentioned a ramp at Bachman lake.  My plan was to head back to this park right after I finished taking attendance for the professor I worked for the following Friday morning (no graduate classes on Fridays).  I planned on staying all day and dreamed of lines all week.  When I arrived my dreams were crushed just like the park.  Got out the map and found Bachman lake I was goind in search of a ramp.  Amazingly as I drove down NW Hwy I spotte it behind the Del Taco -no problem.
It looked like part of a pinball machine type game and just a few people there with a little shop.  One guy took a few runs blasting airs, doing inverts and totally dominating the ramp and nothing like I remember in those Skateboarder mags I randomnly found in my small town.  This kid says to me "that's Jeff Phillips one of the 5 best skaters in the world".  He came over and was totally cool to me. 
 My future was off and rolling. I came out the next Friday and bought a Sims screamer with Gullwing trucks and wheels to the disapproval of my current girlfriend.  I knew what I was in love with.  I became a Clown Ramp and started skating vert local at the age of 23.  I got involved in a rad scene, looked for spots and skaters in and eventually opened my own shop in Arlington where I lived.
 This lead to meeting a guy that became my good skate bro who was from El Paso.  He told me about the skate park there and some pros lime Alva and such that came out and ripped the park.  I dreamed of how cool it must have been and the types of tricks and style of the 7'0's.  Thanks to Neil these meories came back.

If anyone else has photos they'd like to share please use the Contact Us email.


Mid Cities

El Paso - Skate City?

I will keep adding to as this  Elaine or Rodney send me more great stuff. It's really cool to see and hear about the action that happened right here in Texas!
So remember to scroll down for the newest.

Nice work, you are worthy of Texas sized praise for all youve done to promote Texas and its skate scene. Some of the earliest and best Texas skater's played HUGE but always in the shadows...Ken O,AW,SteveK,Garrison P...yep,they were there...usually before anyone else...Hat's Off.

Hombre,this is Rodney Paul standing in for Elaine,I helped sort through some pretty cool '70's skate pics taken in west Texas. About 80 pics from '77-'80 at the Bent Cement skatepark in Big Spring,AMMO,a couple of pools,ramps,etc. 
 
I know the scene in this part of Texas was a direct result of EZ-7,circa 1977. (ALL roads lead back to EZ-7 eventually...). Ken O had lived in Stafford in '76,and some of his motocross buddies turned him on to surfing and skating in '76 and on a return visit spring '77 he skated EZ-7. I know he was first to start skating the ditches outside Big Spring. It was a cool scene and some true die hards emerged. Ken got a local sports photo/writer involved,a Cuban guy that had followed Kens Little League years,and the fellow saw right off that skating was an emerging sport, a true believer.Pretty radical for the time and place,really. Ken was able to get a local guy,an oil man named Kieth Bristow,to build a park. Bent Cement was done early spring 1978. Talk about a guy with vision...From a ditch in Houston to a concrete park,in less than a year.
 
Well,we all know what happened with the '70's parks.Too expensive,insurance and law suits,etc. But,skating lived! 
 
4 skaters emerged as wanderers and travelers deluxe,but there were alot of people out west skating in 1977,. Ken O,Alan W,Steve S and Steve K. I think Elaine sent you a pic of them at the mouth of AMMO. These guys basically roamed every square inch of the South Plains,the Llano Estecado,skating,hand-fishing,locating Native American occupations sites,collected rattlesnakes,raced motorcycles,BMX,rodeo's,water ski'd,made snowboards...some serious desert rats taking care of bizness. A lot of us followed if we could,
 
I'm hoping to chat with them asap,and see what they be doing now days. Plus, the stories...some epic shit,and only the blowing wind was the witness! 
 
I'll send some pics of them, add it in chronological order,keep it to some basics. I'll try to highlight the actual skate spots over the skater,but i'll try to find some introduction pics...crazy mofo's.... 
 
First pic Alan White and Steve Stull. Invert Steve Kinman at Bent Cement,the park,then and Ken O with the first Dogtown board to hit Texas at Carrolton FreeFlyte park circa early '78.
 
Youre site is way cool,thanks for keeping it up. Long Live the memory of Jeff Phillips!
 
RP 

Ken O came back from EZ7,found some cohorts to clean the ditches and a west Texas skate scene was born.
That was early 1977. Joe Fewell was a Cali transplant,a surf style skater that showed up just in time! I recall summer of '77 that skating went down all day at The System, in the heat Texas style. Pics from a Big Spring Herald article by Danny Valdez,the Cuban born sports writer that pushed skating every chance. 
Rodney

Ken O on a fiberglass Jay Adams Z-Flex deck end of '77,Big Spring,TX.
 
"Stevie K" and his San Angelo membership card,Feb.1978. Trying to locate pics of that park,it had a full pipe section that was super kinked but rideable and a very smooth and lengthy halfpipe. 
 
Ken O,Sands Ramp 1979. The ramp was moved from a Lubbock concrete park(The Pike) circa Jan.1978.
 
So- Angelo and Lubbock had concrete parks the end of 1977. Word was out there were parks in Carrolton and Houston. We met Dallas skater Brian Abel in San Angelo, first time we heard of a guy named Jeff Newton. 
 
Located Steve K,but get this...he left today the 9th to go take 25 complete skateboards with full safety gear to kids in Mexico,Yucatan Peninsula.... Pretty cool -Texas OG dude walking the walk.
Rodney

Garrison Parge'  did the recon and skated AMMO 1st in 1978. Then he invited Cassimus in and some pro's to skate.Salba and Blackhart,who is shown in cover shot. Garrison,what a fellow! Hope you made it there yourself.
 
I would wager this guy skated AMMO more than anyone else .Probably 1980 , pic by Ron Sundy
 
Stevie K in 1979. Hope to find more pics,he skated there for years. 
 
Okay,enjoy- and thanks for all on your site to browse and enjoy. More than a few of us OG been checking in it out.
Sweet.

A bit of pics of Ken O,spring break 1978. 
Bent Cement
plus a Carrolton FreeFlight park pic and a Skateboard City pic in Houston. 
Plus a pic of San Antonio North East Skateboard slopes
Two week period

These may be a bit random but worth a veiwing
 
Steve K in Austin,this was another concrete park but I dont know the name of it. Looks like he is riding a Tejas Skates deck,would be 1980
 
Some Bent Cement pics,the decks make me say late '79 early '80

Stevie Kinman,I can't locate pics of other skaterz there.
 
Oh cool,I found one of ken O on a Tejas deck

Haha what a funny bunch of skinny guys. Far left,Keith Bristow, owner/builder of Bent Cement. Keith and wife Jean(Jeanie) were close buds with 1970's rock royalty,selling MANY rock stars their Rocky Mountain getaway villas(her family homesteaded them thar mountains back in the day,fightin' Indians and outlaws and such). Like Jimmy Page.Robert Plant,Joe Walsh...yes THAT Rocky MT WAY! Joe Walsh's wife actually coined the name Bent Cement. Keith gave all he could afford to promote skating in Texas,,,he sat out in his car watching everyone skating The System for over a year,almost daily before committing to building a park. A Good Texan indeed.
 
The trip to the D/FW area payed off on that contest. 3rd place double bowl,2nd high jump,and a lot of swag,including the Dog Town board and Gull Wing trux ken O had won for MOST RADICAL AERIAL trick.
The BIG payoff was skating with that early Dallas crew,observing Jeff Newton beginning to work serious magic,and everyone finally got to see a skater from Houston kenO kept bragging about. That l'il(at the time) red headed dude John TEX Gibson! Style like no other,HUGE and smooth tuck leg airs and total domination on the crete. Serious MoJo arose in Tejas after that particular contest. 
 
it's amazing...the second pic was taken less than a year later. A VERY wide Sims board,double conical wheels and super wide MotoBilt trucks. 
 
But,in the interum

Airborne ken O on a full tilt charge down thru AMMO 1980. photo by Ron Sundy
 
second pic is 1979, photo by Alan W
 
3rd is ...well...if a person skated there often,he would know about pipe lizards.Hundreds...on the walls...freaky man,especially if they are half run over,stuck to the wall and wiggling in place. 

THESE are Dec 1978 pics of the pool I use to skip 1st period class for.Ponderosa Apts.Big Spring,TX. I've skated it myself and they still clean both pools every early winter,easy to grab a quick run during season.

another odd shaped deck from Sims. 
 
third pic by Cody Bell 1979 Bent Cement
 
4th pic of Ray BONES Rodriguez in San Antonio 1978 contest...Tex Gibson killed everybody,but oh hell no...Skateboarder/Cassimus wouldnt acknowledge. Matter of fact,SALBA and Rick Blackhart went straight to do the first AMMO pictorial two daze later.
 
Bobby Valdez doing handplants on the 4ft vertical section. It was right when he introduced them so it was a big moment for all to see. Main thing.check that crowd.

North East Skateboard Slopes.
pics taken by Alan W
 
Steve K the Sands ramp 1979
 
same ramp,looks like its ken O
 
I wish the 5th pic showed the actuall heighth of that Amarillo ramp...16ft and 8ft wide.Only pic of it I could find.
1979 Steve K