Tony Hawk on Learning to Skate, Being a Dad, and His “Clean” Sense of Style
Tony Hawk is debatably the most famous professional skateboarder in the world—scratch that, the 51-year-old is definitely the most famous skater in the world. Hot off the news that skateboarding will now qualify as an Olympic sport at the 2020 games in Tokyo, Vogue caught up with the iconic athlete for our latest installment of 73 Questions.
Hawk, who still skates almost every day, is now a father of four children. Our interview begins with a tour of his home in San Diego, where he lives with his family and has lived for most of his life. There, Hawk showed off his very first professional skateboard model, as well as another board signed by some members of The Clash. (Fun fact: One of his gates also has an actual Hawk on it.) Along the tour, he also cleared up a common misconception about skaters: “That we’re lazy stoners,” he says. “It’s the exact opposite. To be a pro skater, you have to be disciplined, you have to be determined, and you have to work at it.”
Vogue also asked Hawk about his successful video game series—specifically, if he chooses his own avatar while playing it. The answer? Duh. “I know all of my special moves and that’s how I get the highest scores,” he says. (Guess he’s competitive even in virtual reality form.) But skating wasn’t Hawk’s only passion: In the video, he shares that he almost pursued a path as a violin player instead. “My music teacher in school wanted me to do all of these concerts on the weekends, but I was off in Florida at skating events,” he says.
Given the rise of skater-inspired style, we also couldn’t resist asking Hawk about his very own sense of fashion. (He’s developed his own clothing line, for starters.) He describes his look on the halfpipe these days as “subdued, clean, and relatively cool for a 51-year-old.” As for his go-to skating shoes of choice? “My new Lakai Protos in the new colorway,” he says.
Originally Appeared on Vogue
