From Ray's Cloverdale World Round-Up Profile: From: Orangevale, California, USA Division: Legends Freestyle Classic Division Sponsored by: Santa ... View more

From Ray's Cloverdale World Round-Up Profile: From: Orangevale, California, USA Division: Legends Freestyle Classic Division Sponsored by: Santa Cruz Skateboards Independent Trucks Ray blames his neighbourhood friends back in 1975 for getting him started skating and watching Russ Howell’s GT Skateboard commercial for getting him hooked on doing freestyle tricks. Ray said, “Skateboarder Magazine in those early years was my look into what was going on. In the beginning jumping curbs, tic tac races, hang ten nose wheelies and if you could do a 720 you were way cool. The craziest thing I saw was a friend do a hand stand with his hands on both ends of his skateboard and then he did an unexpected wheelie and scrapped his knuckles on the ground. I don’t think I saw him on a board again.” He was lucky enough to be picked up on a few teams as an amateur, Skateboards Unlimited skate shop in San Mateo then California Precision (CalPre) Skate Shop. One of the owners at CalPre went to work at NHS and told them about Ray, he got sponsored with Santa Cruz and Independent Trucks shortly there after. One of best memories was attending the TransWorld Skateboard Championships at EXPO 86 in Vancouver, B.C. something he remembers fondly. “I had a blast up there. We flew to Seattle and then rented a motor home and drove from there to the Expo. I skated horribly, got sick, and missed the 360 contest, but had a great trip other than that. I met some great people and we all knew that this was as close to being in the Olympics that we would ever see. Rodney skated great (No Surprise) got perfect scores from all of the judges. I liked just walking around the Expo and remember how clean the City was. Contests were never my favourite thing, but they helped me become pro and enabled me to do more fun things like Demo’s and my summer vacations at the YMCA Skate Camps. Been in so many contests I have forgotten where I placed. I do remember my last contest in San Francisco in 1990, I tied for third with Cameron Martin, but having my mom there to see me skate in a contest, for the first and only time, was definitely a win for me.” Ray has been married 20 + awesome years, has two adult boys who are working stiffs and a girl in high school. He loves building computers but these days manages a team of developers and system administrators for the County of Sacramento. He loves watching movies and has been known to pick up his guitar and play it once in a while. He said this trip back to Vancouver is going to be “Fun, Fun, Fun,” wait a minute isn’t that a line from a Beach Boy’s Song? He plans to compete in the 360 Spin Off and the Legends Freestyle Classic events with his good friend and mentor Russ Howell. Show less