Tony Hawk Went Pro at 14, Bought a House at 17 | Joe Rogan

Well you are the Lance Armstrong of skating. And this is what I mean. I don't mean that you got caught doing drugs. What I mean is that you're the guy... Like when people talk about professional skaters, Tony Hawk. Like I don't know a single fucking bike rider other than Lance Armstrong. I mean Greg, there was another guy? Greg Lamont. Yeah. See? But I can't remember him real quick. But for you, that's got to be strange because you were the first. And you're for sure the most prominent. How did you pull that off? Well, mostly longevity by surviving the first wave of skating in the 80s. Well that was actually kind of the second wave of skating in the 80s. Where I had a pretty good career. I was doing really well in competition, especially in the mid to late 80s. And then as skating kind of went underground, I never quit. And started my own skate company in 1992. And then when the X Games came into play, I was still kind of on top of my game. I did really well there. And I think a lot of people carried over my name from that first round where they were skaters in the 80s and now maybe their kids skate. And they're like, oh I remember that guy. And their kids are watching me on the X Games. And then when our video game came out in 1999, that's when everything changed for sure. Well you were famous for skating when you were like 17 or something, right? I turned pro when I was 14. But I mean that, when I say that it seems, it might seem magical. But at the time skating was this little tiny scene. So when I first, when I literally went pro, I was filling out an entry form to a competition. And I had already reached the top of the amateur ranks. And there was a little box that said pro and a little box that said am. So I clicked, I checked the pro box. And that was it. I was pro. No one was offering me a contract. No one had champagne. You know what I mean? And like my coach was, I'll never forget, Stacy Peralta was looking over my shoulder. And I checked it and he's like, okay. That's it. That was it, yeah. Wow. But you had a coach. We had a team manager. He's the one who put me on what is now considered the Bones Brigade. But the company was Pal Peralta. And that was sort of the elite crew of skaters in the early 80s. And I was the super young newbie on the team. Like super skinny dorky kid and a lot of the guys that were established were like, this guy? Really? What is that, Jim? Oh, is that you? That's me at age 17. Wow. Time flies. Does it freak you out looking at that? I think it's, I mean, I see that photo making the rounds. So it's cool. I'm actually, so by the time I turned 17, I was kind of doing well in competition and making money. So I'm literally sitting outside of my house that I bought while I was a senior in high school in that photo. Which was a challenge trying to stay focused on schoolwork when you have the party house. That's crazy. You own a fucking house? Yeah. Wow. A duplex, but yeah, it was my own place. Still? But you know, like when you're a senior, oh, so and so's parents are out of town. Party's at his house. Like my parents were never home. So everyone's going to my house. But what did your parents think about you buying a house 17? It was my dad's idea. Really? Yeah, because he saw me really not understanding finances or how lucky I was. And I was just throwing money away, you know, on cars and trips and sharper image. Just the most ridiculous things. And then he's like, I really think you should invest your money. Did you get a massage chair? Sharbor image massage chair. Get one of those? No, but I bought between. Okay, this is a long story, but my sister and I went in on a tanning bed together. I was like, I used it once. She used it because she it was helpful to her skin. I'm not going to say why, but you know, she had a legitimate reason for it. But I was like, yeah, tanning bed. Like, we're going to go tan, but you know, you got to have it. Where did you live at the time? In North County, San Diego, Carlsbad. You don't need a tanning bed. Exactly. Yeah, that was it. Well, the first time I went, I was like, why am I laying in there? I could just go to the side. I need 350 days a year. Yeah, that's hilarious. But I mean, it's it almost, you know, when you're that age and you're you're doing well, you think that some other some like a status symbol. Did you sleep in that house by yourself when you were 17? No, I had three roommates. Oh, God, that's so crazy. One was a little bit older. He was a good friend of mine, pro skater, and he was the only guy that actually had a job. And he was tortured for like two years because we were super late all the time, making noise. And you'd have to get up at, you know, 7 a.m., go to work. He was doing he was doing line stripping like back when you'd have to color separate for magazines and stuff like that. What a bummer for him. Such a bummer. Yeah. And still try like he's still trying to make it as a pro skater. But clearly he had to get a job and must be an exhausted to. Yeah, he would leave these kind of nasty notes for us in the morning. So would you in high school, like, so you were senior year in high school, you had your own place. Did you do any schoolwork at all? I did. Yeah. He must have been like, well, fuck this. I can already buy a house. I don't know. I think it was more because my parents valued education. My mom was an educator. She was actually like taught in college. Oh, wow. So I felt that I was going to be a disappointment if I didn't at least graduate high school. And I was always pretty advanced. Like I was in the gifted program and I was a great ahead and a lot of the subjects. So by the time I was a senior, I only needed four classes to graduate. So I went to school until lunchtime every day and then I was out. Oh, wow. And then I got my diploma and my dad not strongly suggested I go look at colleges. And so just to humor him, I went looking at like a city college in our area and looked around the campus like, oh, that's cool. I guess. Sure. And I just knew that it was my opportunity to really chase this and to embrace all these opportunities I was getting. I mean, I was I was literally out of high school onto a Hollywood movie set. Gleeing in the Cube. Oh, that's right. So I was out just graduated high school and then moved to North Hollywood for two months. Gleeing in the Cube. That was like what, eighty six? It was it was shot in eighty eight, I think. Eighty seven. Wow. God, I'm remembering that now. Wow. What a what a crazy way to go from being a young kid to like right into your manhood. It's it's deceiving, though. I mean, especially when you have that much success at a young age, you think you think it's never going to end. Right. You think you're invincible. And I definitely sometimes treated it as such where I was just like, whoo, you know, just throw money away. And like I said, my dad was encouraging me to save it. And then it all came crashing down in about like 1991, 92, where my my paycheck was all based on royalties of skate products. And it started getting cut in half every month. Wow. Just from lack of interest, lack of sales. Why did it drop? It was it just a liability thing? It was that. And just skating was considered a fad. And it was just like and also my style of skating. I was I skated the ramps. Right. So I'm a vert skater. Vert skating was just instantly not cool because street skating had taken over. So I was considered this dinosaur. And it was just like you're out skating is not cool. And you're not cool in skating. Wow. So it was it was rough. That was like I would say sort of ninety two to ninety five ish were were very lean. So you were trying to figure out like, hey, what am I doing? I got really good at this. Were you thinking I got to find something else to do? Yes and no. I knew I wouldn't quit skating because I just loved it. Like I never did it for the money. You know, I started there were no no one could be rich or famous from skating. So that was never the objective. It was just because I loved what it brought to me. I love the self confidence it brought to me. I love the creativity. I love the the misfit crew, the community of it. And so when things started to go south financially, I know when quit. I just had to figure out how to make ends meet. And I actually had a video editing system and I learned how to do that very early. Like right when nonlinear video started happening, I had a system. So I started doing freelance work for companies doing video editing super random. Some skate companies. And then I did exhibitions like we were doing exhibitions in amusement park parking lots. We weren't even in the amusement park. We're like in the parking lot as people walk in as entertainment, you know, and doing that for like 100 bucks a day. Wow. But it but it allowed me to skate and allowed me to pay the rent. And it was like that was good enough for me. But were you thinking that this is going to stop totally? Well, it was definitely felt like it was heading that way. But I like I said, I was trying to I was just trying to do whatever I could. So I was trying to learn different skills. And maybe skating wasn't going to pay the bills, but I couldn't let it go for my life. Wow. That's a great story. It was there and you brought it back. Yeah, I guess I mean, a lot of ways, right?