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Pro skateboarder and star of his own reality TV series: Rob & Big
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Rob Dyrdek article
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At the age of 12, he picked up a skateboard for the first time and within a month won his first competition. People took notice of his raw talent and he soon became the youngest member of the G&S skateboard team. He turned professional at the age of 16, joining the legendary Ohio-based Alien Workshop team and forgoing his senior year of high school. He reached fourth place at the 1991 World Championships, the first contest he competed in as a professional. As a teenager, Dyrdek attracted a growing number of sponsors, appeared in skate movies and on magazine covers, signature skateboards and other merchandise. One of his best known sponsorship deals developed after he befriended the founders of the Droors Clothing line. He not only began promoting their clothing, but was given the opportunity to design a signature line of the first athletic skate shoe. The nearly 30 shoes designed by Dyrdek helped establish what became DC Shoes. This exposure to the business side of skateboarding awakened his entrepreneurial instincts and inspired him to venture into other projects. Like other first-time businessmen, he had his share of successes, such as the world-famous skateboarding training facility in San Diego, and his failures, notably a defunct hip hop label called P-Jays Records. Dyrdek learned from his mistakes and applied his newly gained knowledge to the next venture. At the age of 25, Dyrdek made the decision to rededicate himself to street skateboarding and take his skills to the next level. He began competing for the first time since his early professional years and received a multitude of awards and international recognition. The success and accolades renewed his desire to give back to the sport. He quickly identified the niche that needed to be filled in order to advance the sport – tackling the struggle that skaters faced in finding legal street skating sites in the United States. As Dyrdek experienced firsthand, street skateboarders are often ticketed, arrested and harassed by overly aggressive security guards and police. Dyrdek realized that many cities were open to compromise but were not qualified to follow through on their end of the agreement and they built poorly constructed parks that do not meet street skating requirements. He decided to task himself with providing street skaters with legitimate, safe and challenging street skating venues. In 2003, Dyrdek started on his greatest achievement to date – his plan to build the Rob Dyrdek/DC Shoes Skate Plaza Foundation’s first park in his hometown of Kettering, Ohio. To make this dream a reality, Dyrdek did not leave it up to architects and designers; he was hands-on, applying his expertise as a professional street skateboarder – the expertise that was lacking in other skate parks across the United States. To make sure he covered every angle, he educated himself in design and drafting techniques, and did what he knew best, he hit the streets. He spent months traveling in order to capture photos of his favorite skate spots. He used the photos to assemble an illustrated book of tricks and obstacles for the plaza. No one was surprised by the tenacity Dyrdek showed in making his vision, and every street skater’s dream, come to life. The 40,000 square foot Kettering Skate Plaza opened in June 2005, as a legal place for street skaters to hone their skills. Not only did the Kettering Skate Plaza receive rave reviews from the skateboarding community, it won the Modernism Award from Dwell magazine. While building the Skate Plaza, Drydek's long time dream of making a movie about skateboarding came to fruition. Dyrdek’s foray into the film business manifested itself in the writing, financing, casting, producing and starring in his feature film, Street Dreams. The story is about a young skater from the Midwest who is suddenly faced with national exposure and personal adversity, reminiscent of Dyrdek's own rise to fame. Whether the film is successful or not, it will be something Dyrdek is proud of and an accurate portrayal of the difficulties associated with climbing the ranks in the sport of skateboarding. In the last year, Dyrdek has become a reality TV star thanks to the success of MTV’s Rob and Big. The three-season series was picked up by MTV after a skit written by Dyrdek in The DC Video became an underground sensation. Adding to his acting repertoire, Dyrdek was honored to be cast in the upcoming Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro film Righteous Kill, due for release in 2008. Many may think that there is not much left for Rob Dyrdek to accomplish, but like so many times in the past, he is ready to prove those people wrong. He has established himself as a figure in the history of street skateboarding, he has has an impact on its culture in countless ways and he has continued to build his legacy. Dyrdek is moving forward, always looking for opportunities to take his game to the next level and to develop into the sports and entertainment mogul he always knew he was meant to be. Current Dyrdek involvement includes: endorsements including Spy Optics, Alien Workshop and Red Bull energy drinks; co-owner of Rogue Status, a clothing company with his partner, Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker; involvement with his own companies, Reflex Bearings and Silver Trucks; feature character in skate., a revolutionary new video game from EA Sports; an appearance in the video game Smackdown vs Raw 2007 alongside Big Black; promoter of SafeSpot, an urban renewal program that seeks to take unused donated land and build safe skating grounds for street skateboarders; and raising awareness of his self-produced documentary, Groundbreaking, which serves as a reference for youngsters to lobby for skate plazas in their cities. |
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