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
29 Comments
Jeff Reeves
6/20/2013 11:25:41 am
Skateboard Slopes was my stomping grounds !! I used to ride my bike from Fort Sam Houston just to skate all day !!
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Garry Dworaczyk
4/20/2014 05:16:15 pm
I skated NESS from the day it opened till way after it closed and was filled with dirt. We had the first ramp in San Antonio in our backyard. Arrowsmith skate team sessions took place there. Plus a bunch of the slopes team. Tom Smith Carry Olsen Bruce Bowen Ivan Harris Mike Burt, Abdul etc. Before NESS was Selma Ditch with the Monster Hole. Gulf Mart off Fred Rd and then Dietrich off 410 south. Still skate Dietrich and LBJ skate park.
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mark /hawaiin
7/2/2015 02:08:49 pm
Aloha bra, yea dude killer times! Jus moved here from the islands 79, wanted to go back badtill i met your older bro at NE(Gary). You'all had the sweetest ramp around& really kool parents.Cracked my noggin in that half pipe wuz better at surfing & taking skate pics.Party'd w/all you'all ,,,tony alva to! Tom wuz king of the half pipe but many left there signature in style as well. Pro shop b/w pic on the wall I took.Gave copy's to most you'all.My pride & joy wuz my pics,albums of cont prints,mostly kodac slides 1000 speed.Lost most w/house burned down, but no 1 will ever take away the memories.Tasty buds& kool waves! Peaceout park bros
Keith Bristow has more pics if you want them
10/11/2013 10:23:55 pm
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Greg
10/11/2013 11:38:12 pm
That'd be cool. Use the contact email on this site and we can go from there.
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steve kinman
11/4/2013 04:40:14 am
how do I get ahold of keith..
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Greg
11/4/2013 08:10:56 am
Not sure. I don't have any contact info. I looked at old emails that had these photos and such. It was from Elaine.
Jeff
3/16/2014 11:30:51 am
Was wondering if you had anymore photos of Bent Cement in Big Spring Texas. I used to ride that in the 80's after it shut down, would love to see photos.
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KenO
4/17/2014 12:01:10 am
Sure do.
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TG
5/23/2014 01:46:16 am
Loving the Tx. history! Please keep on digging!
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Allen
8/13/2014 07:29:13 am
Does anyone remember or even better yet have pics of Wizard skatepark in Dallas or USA in Irving?
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Neil Rosser
5/17/2015 08:32:02 am
I have some pics of me riding a park in the Mid-Cities in the mid-70s, on Beltline Road, south of that USA Park in Irving (which I also rode, yes). I remember the USA park being on Beltline just south of 183, and this other thing, called 'Mid-Cities Skatepark' or something, being two or three more miles south on Beltline. Let me know how to post up pics on this site.
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Greg
5/18/2015 01:27:34 pm
That'd be rad! Use the contact email to send any stories/photos. [email protected]
allen
5/18/2015 09:51:57 pm
I vaguely remember Mid Cities. I'd love to see any pics you have. Thanks!
Neil Rosser
5/19/2015 02:53:08 am
Greg I emailed all the pics I have, to that address. Look forward to seeing them added before too long - thanks.
KenO
8/15/2014 01:13:07 pm
Hat's off to Brother Jay Boy Adams, for me it started with a pic of him grinding thru a snap back gnarler...Life's A Bitch, But Skating RULES! RIP,Hombre
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Craig "Via" V
10/7/2014 09:03:01 am
I was at the '78 contest in San Antonio - pulling clear front-side air off the 4' vert pipe (have a few pics) - Bowman wasn't even doing that LOL! Wild to see Valdez hand-planting. I took third on the pipe behind 2 locals :p
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Greg
5/18/2015 01:32:24 pm
Anything you locate is welcome. So many across the globe and state had similar ideas for tricks and old photos and videp are great. Fortunately I was so stoked on things in the mid 80's and going forward that I found a way to capture some of it.
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allen
7/2/2015 10:17:11 pm
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William Webb
1/4/2016 12:43:35 pm
Dudes are used to skate all three of those parks in Texas the free fly park that USA park and the wizard in Garland skated all three of them
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Chris Futrelle
2/8/2016 02:15:49 pm
WE were there the day Bent Cement was bulldozed Sad day in History. However we had an awesome time skating there everyday til it happened. Skaters came from all around. One time we had Brian Brannon from JFA skate with us. Then all we had left was "the System" Still there BTW. keep posting those Texas pics.
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Ken O
2/11/2016 01:21:13 pm
Epic pics.Good info.All very close to accurate,caption-wise.Keith Bristow did a huge thing for Texas skating; building Bent Cement was a big deal in '78,and costly.I believe it was Doug Schneider on the cover shot of Skateboarder? Texas Style Skating in mid-to-late '70's was a magical and true-time.Thanks for this site!
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Tim kirby
2/11/2024 06:43:22 pm
I’ve got a few bent vent and system pics.
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CARSON VESTER
8/20/2016 03:22:14 pm
yalls pictures of the pipline give me chills! ilearned to scate there and never skated anythig that did me right since, and i skated alot. im hopiing soeone has more photos? i asked tex he dident have any? hope one of yall do? ill swap you an old zorlac duffle bag for some. it belongs in a museum. holes and all ha ha
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Mean Gene
10/4/2016 02:12:48 pm
Being a native Houstonian, I enjoyed the article. Just a couple of adds, EZ7 was OK, but for me, too restrictive. Most guys i hung with, we honed our craft at the Meat Grinder, off Creekmont street, same cement bayou system not that far apart. In fact, we road on clay wheels for quite a while there, and we were pumped when Cadillac wheels came out, along with dealing with all those loose ball bearings. A set of clay wheels would only last about one day or so on the Meatgrinder... we were constantly buying new Super Surfer skateboards, at the localToy Shops, and i remember a new one cost about 10 bucks. not bad...we'd sit on the boards wheels side up, and slide down the sides of the concrete walls, to scuff up the deck for traction instead of buying grip tape. LOL Also, you didn't mention SkateboardCity, or Texas Pipeline skateparks in Houston. I had a bad ankle sprain at SkateboardCity, but really got to enjoy Texas Pipeline, because it closed rather quickly, but the concrete was just left there untouched, for us to ride for free, unsupervised for quite some time afterwards. I still have my photo i.d. from there circa 78 or so.
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Yanky Zhu
3/13/2018 10:50:51 pm
Hello,
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Ken O
3/14/2018 11:23:29 am
Yanky, Go AWAY if you are selling Chinese boards. Find a thousand foot tall cliff and jump off of it!
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Jayanna
3/4/2023 10:09:04 pm
I ain't sellin' nothing, but still want to frame some of these pics one day!
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Papo Caballero
8/13/2024 02:15:35 pm
I stumbled upon this gem.
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