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Hawk, Tony
HAWK: OCCUPATION: SKATEBOARDER
New York : Regan Books, 2000
IL YA
ISBN 0060198605
Tony Hawk turned pro when he was just fourteen years old. Now he is a PlayStation figure, has his own company, and gets more than a million dollars a year in product endorsements... all because he is a great skateboarder. He has invented almost 80 skateboard tricks, won more than 70 contests, and is the first person ever to land a 900 (2 ½ rotations) in competition during the 1999 X-Games.

His book HAWK: OCCUPATION: SKATEBOARDER, tells about his life skateboarding in the years since the 1980's. He give details about getting knocked unconscious, the broken bones and teeth, stitches, cuts and scrapes he's endured as a skinny out-of-step teenager who liked a sport other kids didn't get. Tony started out so little that he couldn't keep his speed up to transition into the next move. He eventually found friends and allies in the legendary Del Mar skate venue "Oasis." Tony admits that he was rough on his parents as a kid - too much energy, too easily frustrated, and he didn't like the things the other kids liked. But once he got hooked on skateboarding, he channeled his energy and determination into learning (and inventing) tricks, entering competitions, and bonding with a cat named Zorro he found that really didn't like anyone but him.

He writes about life in the sport before skateboarding was popular to what it is like to be an athletic legend during the meteoric rise of extreme sports. And he writes about the down side of being a famous sports figure (he was booed and jeered for not performing at an event because he was sick.) There's a section called, "Look Ma, I'm a Video Game" where Tony describes how he worked with the Activision to create one of the best selling PlayStation video game series.

This is a very honest look at a rise to fame for an unlikely kid in a sport whose time had finally come. Read it and wonder what the next big thing might be and if you might be already doing it!
(Jan Knauer, Colorado Blue Spruce YA Book Award, 2003)

SUBJECTS:     Hawk, Tony.
                        Skateboarders -- Biography.

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