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"THE GREATEST DAY IN MY LIFE"- Bruce Logan
Mark Schmid calls me up with "I'm getting Bruce and then we'll be up to get you. It's gonna be something!!" I thought
to myself "wow, Bruce Logan, I can't believe it!". For all you who don't know who Bruce is, he was the Tony Hawk
of the 60's and 70's. Pushing the boundaries of skateboarding along side of other early greats like Torger Johnson, Tony Alva,Ty
Page.... About an hour later, the Syndrome van pulls up and to my disbelief, Bruce Logan sat in the passenger seat. Mark brought
some new skategear from our warehouse and we proceeded to set up a new deck for Bruce. We split and picked up Fingerfip Dave
and were on our way to the Simi Valley Skatelab for the OSSJ 2. Bruce has been out of it for a while. It was hard to track
him down and explain to him what was going to happen. On the way up, he told us endless tales of the Logan Earth Ski days.
Stories of the first contests, the first tours, just about the first everything related to skateboarding...stories of the
1965 World Championships held in the Anaheim Stadium to tours of Puerto Rico and the islands of Hawaii. He wasn't really sure
what to expect on this night but, we assured him that it was going to be a great night for him, and it was. We arrive at
the Skatelab to see the place packed with every skate legend you can imagine. Duane Peters, Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta, Pat
Ngoho, Neil Blender, Salba....the list goes on and on....Tons of ripping went down all night. Highlights would include the
usual D.P. anarchy, Eddie Reatigue going 200 mph, Brian Patch killing it, Mike Stehlmasky doing the Stehlmasky plant and Salba
just tearing. Arab made an announcement that Bruce Logan was there and from then on out, Bruce couldn't leave his post. He
was signing autographs and catching up with old friends all night long. Lots of talking and hanging out later, Arab and Todd
from Skatelab made a few thanks and called it a night. We drive back and drop off Backwards Bernie O'dowd off in L.A. and
talk with Bruce about all the old friends that he hasn't seen in 25 years. He told us that this was the best night of his
life and how he can't wait 'til next year. We arrive back in S.D. around 1 am tired, and overwhelmed thinking about the combined
history and talent that had gathered in one place for one legendary night of skateboarding. Much thanks to the boys of the
Skatelab for hosting this great event. SEE YOU NEXT YEAR-Rob Mertz
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| Overview of the event. |
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| Duane Peters with a healthy indy air in front of Salba. |
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| Cab and Eddie arguing over which trick is radder. The Caballerial or the Elguerial |
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| Duane was dominating the session as usual... |
Rob" with Neil Blender. He was one of my favorite skaters. He had such a unique bag of tricks. We talked about Ocean
City in '86." Rob^^^^^^^^^^^
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| Eddie Reatigue speeding through a corner boardslide like a freight train! |
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| Paul Schmitt smashed his knee and it swelled up like a balloon. |
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| Mark Waters getting an autograph from the one and only Steve "Bulky" Olson. |
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"Mike Vallely ripped!!! He's one of my favorite skaters. Tons of different tricks. He even did a handout to revert. Neil
would've been proud" Rob.^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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| Rob and Dave Andrecht. "I dislocated my shoulder once really bad on an Andrecht handplant....."Rob |
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| Steve Claar showed up. Good luck Steve! |
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| Eric Grisham stalling an eggplant. |
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| Kevin Thatcher made it. Where was Mofo? |
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| Brian Patch. What more can you say.... |
Rob and Pushead. "He drew my original shark graphic for my first Zorlac pro board. I was super stoked to see him!!!"
Rob^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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