Dan Drehobl #35.

Krooked Stoops.

Dan is one of my favorite pros so I figured a double shot of Corpsey would be a good ender for the year. He's from Maine and has ridden for Foundation, Think, and Krooked. He also ran a clothing company called Freedumb that featured his silly drawings. Dan had a solid pro run that started in 1992 or 93. He was really crushing it in the early 2000s and put together a slew of great video parts at the turn of the century. You'd get at least one part a year that featured backyard ramps, out of the way skateparks, pools, and street skating.

I got skateboarding 246 times for 2025. I lost a bunch of days due to weather. I've gotten spoiled by the mild winters of the last few years. I also wound up taking more days off than usual because I simply wasn't skating very good and it stopped being fun. I got stuck in some type of slump in late May or early June on that I haven't exactly gotten out of. Things have been better the last month or two, but I've been awkwardly inconsistent. I think I'm just getting old. I guess that's how it goes.

Vert Is Dead is going on winter hibernation. The next post will be on Monday, January 19th.

Hope everybody has a happy and safe New Year!

Thrasher - January 2013 Volume 33 Number 1

Jessie Van Roechoudt #8.

Clutch crooks.

I was mildly surprised I found a Rookie advertisement that I hadn't scanned already. I was a big fan of what they did. Rookie was started in 1996 by Catharine Lyons and Elska von Hatzfeldt. The New York City based company began as a clothing line and expanded into skateboards. They had a ripping team that included Jessie, Jaime Reyes, Tino Razzo, Sean Kelling, Lauren Mollica, and more. They were one of the first companies to predominately feature women skateboarders. In addition to the skaters, top tier graphic design and choice ad location in Slap certainly helped give Rookie an aura of coolness. I realize that long time readers of this blog probably know about Rookie, but it doesn't hurt to provide a recap of their history in case somebody new stumbles upon this site.

Jessie hails from Kelowna, British Columbia. She also rode for Vans, Venture, Billabong, and FTC. I think she currently works at Adidas as a graphic designer.

I got skateboarding on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Both days were reasonably sunny and mild so it was nice to be outside for a while. It's been rainy, cold, and snowy since the holiday.

The photo is by Richard Hart.

Slap - January 2001 Volume 10 Number 1

Andrew Reynolds #20.

Showtime.

The Boss does a noseslide at Food Court Skatepark in Buffalo, New York. Buffalo was one of four stops on New Balance's Running The Numbers tour. It's cool that Food Court is hosting demos and contests to help grow skateboarding in Western New York. It's also a little wild to think that Thrasher and New Balance would visit this side of the state.

Congrats to Chris Joslin on winning SOTY. I really thought Tom Schaar would win based on two incredible vert parts.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays. I hope everybody has a good weekend.

Javier Mendizabal #7.

Dark spots floating in front of my eyes.

This is some of earliest coverage of Javier in a US magazine. He was one of the first riders on Cliché in 1999 and was a staple of their team during the 2000-10s. His artwork was recently used on an album cover for Ray Barbee. The same art would make its way to a board for Ray on Krooked as a guest artist special. Javier's part in The Strongest of the Strange from 2005 is great and he's one of my favorite skaters.

North Cal was the Spanish distributor for Deluxe, NHS, Think, and other assorted brands. I'm not sure if they are still around.

I swung by the skatepark after work on Monday. It didn't seem so windy when I left the office, but it was once I got to the park. A slight rain/snow mix showed up at 5:00 PM so I gave up at that point. It was not cold out at all so losing the time to wind and snow was a bummer since the lights are still on. I did a few frontside sliders on the curb, fakie ollies on the quarter, and a frisbee toss on flat. I guess this counts as skateboarding.

The photo is credited to Carri. I'm not sure on a full name.

Thrasher - June 1998 Volume 18 Number 6

John Worthington.

Doomed Creature.

John is from Auburn, California. He has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Sacramento State. His dad is a surfer and skater so John basically grew up on a skateboard. In addition to shredding pools for Creature, he works as a glass blower and makes all sorts of cool things. John has had some sick photos in Thrasher lately.

Doom Sayers is Omar Salazar's project. He started it when he was still riding for the Alien Workshop as a clothing company. Once the Workshop ended, he expanded Doom Sayers to include boards. Cody Chapman was a pro rider. I always intend to do a week of scans, except they don't advertise often and would sometimes use random historical photos without skateboarding in their ads.

I did get to skateboard over the weekend. I went to Jamestown Skateboard Products on Saturday afternoon. The day was warmer. However, it was also breezy and damp so I figured an indoor park was the best option. It was nice rolling around in their garage street setup. I smacked my knee. Nothing serious, but enough to kill the buzz. It sucked because skating was feeling good for a change. Sunday was cold with a few very light snow flakes in the air. Nothing ever got wet so I skated in the driveway late in the afternoon. I got in about 30 minutes before my trucks froze up.

The new Transworld Photo Annual showed up in the mail yesterday. It's cool to have an issue of TWS in print again. The annual is on the thin side and has one article plus two odd ads. Maybe that's a good format for print in 2025. The photos look great and Blair Alley put in a lot of work for the project. It's worth checking out.

The photo is by Daniel Stelly.

Thrasher - October 2018 Volume 39 Number 10

Franky Villani #3.

Snotty pivot.

Fos did Franky's first pro model graphic for Primitive so it makes sense he would ride for Heroin's wheel company.

Here's a bonus photo of Franky doing a noseblunt slide at Food Court Skatepark from the New Balance demo back in October.

It warmed up and the snow melted so I got to skateboarded in the driveway after work the last two days. It wasn't for very long due to the early sunsets, but it counted. That's about the best you can do when you live in a place with seasons.

Taylor Ballard took the photo.

Thrasher - November 2025 Volume 46 Number 11

Jason Adams #24.

Grab the rail.

Jason blasts an air at a popular street transition spot. I think this thing is out in LA. I've always been a fan of The Kid and it's cool he is still out there contributing to skateboarding.

The photo is by Taylor Ballard.

Thrasher - October 2025 Volume 46 Number 10