Justin Figueroa #5.

War Cry.

I always thought Figgy should've picked up a SOTY in the early 2010s based on the sheer number of gnarly video parts he put out and how he was down for Thrasher. I guess he owns a coffee shop with Riley Hawk and a few other people. His first board sponsor was Powell. Figgy is also a big guitar player.

Thrasher - September 2018 Volume 39 Number 9

Zach Allen.

Zach is from Panoramo City in California. He started skateboarding when he was younger because he couldn't get the hang of riding a bike. Andrew Reynolds added him to the Baker and Emerica teams. He was previously on Lakai. Zach still has the Crailtap connection as he is sponsored by Royal Trucks. He is currently pro for Baker.

Thrasher - July 2018 Volume 39 Number 7

Leo Romero #15.

"I think from the beginning just wanting to ride for Emerica and thinking it was the coolest. And it was the coolest when I was a kid. It still is. That luckily happened. With Foundation and Baker, I felt close to those people too, but it worked out with Toy Machine. With Tum Yeto and Emerica and Baker and that realm, it was kind of mixed together because I've always known those people. I ended up at Toy Machine by chance, and luckily they were awesome enough to let me on their team. I was on Emerica since the beginning, so I feel like I grew up with them. People have a board company they always have, and I feel like that was my board company in a sense. I just always stuck with Emerica, and it was my identity in a way. I was trying to find the board company that would suit me best, and luckily I got on Toy Machine, which is funny because my first sponsor-me video was for Toy Machine. Ed Templeton never watched it and Josh Beagle stole it and put me on Foundation. It went full circle and I got on Toy Machine."

Leo reflects upon his board sponsor history. Was there an interview where he talked about not being happy with one of his video parts from around 2010 so he made sure the next one was better? I thought it was in Thrasher, but it wasn't. The interview might have been online only.

It's the other half of Emerica's 2018 ads. I had planned to use these for a bit and didn't know what else to go with for the week.

The photo is by Kyle Seidler.

For the quote: Skateboarder - October/November 2012 Volume 22 Number 5

Thrasher - June 2018 Volume 39 Number 6

Zion Wright.

The Right Stuff.

Zion is from the awesomely named town of Jupiter, Florida. He is pro for Real and competed for the US team in the Olympics. Vans is current shoe sponsor. Interestingly, Zion left Nike to ride for them. He's equally adept at crushing a handrail or skating a big concrete park.

It was hot on Thursday so I checked out the skatepark for the first time in a while. In a pleasant surprise, the lights were on. The city never turned them on last year. I rolled around for a bit and did OK. I think I'm in this odd slump involving being old and breaking in some new shoes. That's how it goes.

No. 4000.

This is the 4000th post on Vert Is Dead. That's too much scanning. Thanks for all the support over the years and sorry this week was kind of clunker. I intended to do a little more and ran short on time to fill things out.

Blunt: Thrasher - July 2017 Volume 38 Number 7

Smith: Thrasher - October 2017 Volume 38 Number 10

Davis Torgerson #2.

"I think it comes from having Brian Wenning as my favorite skater growing up. I tried so hard to learn how to skate switch. As far as the switch ollie thing — man, I feel like it's an ongoing thing now. Like, I really need to stop doing this."

Minnesota's top tier switch ollier talks about one of his influences. Davis has a really good switch, tech, and wallride game. He's wearing New Balances in the photo and would go on to work at the company before shuffling his feet over to the Asics skateboard program. This wallride was in Real's Surveillance #6 video from 2017. The video featured Davis, Justin Brock, and Chima Ferguson plus a couple tricks from Ishod Wair.

For the quote: Thrasher via an internet interview from May 2017

Thrasher - July 2017 Volume 38 Number 7

Jake Donnelly #3.

Lake Shore Eagle.

Angola, New York's finest takes a switch flip flight over a loading dock. Jake has some wild stories about growing up on his dad's farm in Western New York. It's cool how a kid from the rural area south of Buffalo got good enough at skateboarding to turn pro for Real and Adidas.

Thrasher - July 2016 Volume 37 Number 7

Peter Ramondetta & Justin Brock.

Seeing double.

Pete and Justin were gnarly staples of the Real team during much of the 2000s. Both quietly stepped away from the pro ranks, too.

Pete: Thrasher - April 2016 Volume 37 Number 4

Justin: Thrasher - May 2016 Volume 37 Number 5

Robbie Brockel.

Cowtown.

Robbie is from Phoenix, Arizona. He got the hookup with Deluxe through Cowtown, the local shop. Real turned him pro during his run at a Phoenix Am contest. They kept it a secret and totally surprised him. He also rode for late era Circa. His brother Richie played fullback for the Carolina Panthers for four seasons.

Real turns 35 years old this fall so I figured that was a good thing to tie in with the countdown to the 4,000th post.

Thrasher - February 2016 Volume 37 Number 2

Otis Christian, Danny Webster & Mike Chu.

Got the time.

TIMZ Skateboards was a company out of Las Vegas, Nevada. It makes sense that they sponsored locals Otis Christian and Mike Chu. Former G & S pro Danny Webster also wound up on the squad. I don't really know much about TIMZ beyond these couple of ads from the back of Poweredge. I think Otis later rode for G & S. He had a part in A1 Meat's Dancing in the Dirt video. Mike would turn pro for New School in the 1990s.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, April 21st.

I'm taking a spring break before the countdown to the 4,000th post. I know roughly what skaters I'm going to use. I want to take some extra time to get everything in order.

The weather has been cold and rainy for the week. I've gotten in a little skateboarding, but it wasn't great. I figured out my shoes are done so I have to start breaking in a new pair. I didn't really land much of anything on Wednesday so that's hanging over me. The weekend is maybe shaping up to be milder and dry.

Jeff Shapiro took the photo of Mike. The photo of Danny is credited to Bradley. I'm not sure on a full name.

Otis: Poweredge - October 1989 Volume 2 Number 9

Webster & Chu: Poweredge - March 1990 Volume 3 Number 3

Circle A.

Couch Guy.

Circle A was Bob Schmelzer's company. They were famous for not putting rider names in the ads so I have no idea who this is. For example, they left Ed Templeton's name off an advertisement where he was doing one of the first documented frontside 50-50s down a handrail. The team has included Joe Lopes, Ricky Winsor, Justin Girard, and many others. I always dug their graphics and ad layouts.

Poweredge - October 1989 Volume 2 Number 9

Rob Mertz #2.

Straightedge Shark.

Rob is from Nazareth, Pennsylvania. He's lived in Florida, Texas, and California, too. Rob was pro for Zorlac. He also rode for Indy, Brand X, Skate Rags, Santa Cruz Speed Wheels, and Airwalk over the years. In addition to doing big airs, Rob also innovated some unique tricks on vert.

The interview is by Ken Sigafoos. The photos are by Geoff Graham.

Poweredge - April 1989 Volume 2 Number 3

Steve Schneer #3.

Flip out.

The late Steve Schneer uses his Gullwings to carve over a tight spot in a backyard pool. He was a master of unique inverts that influenced select modern day skaters such as Erick Winkowski. Of note is the Poweredge sticker on his board. There's also a Grind King sticker and it looks like he is using the inverted Grind King kingpins.

Poweredge - April 1989 Volume 2 Number 3

United Skates of America.

The New Breed.

I'd never heard of this before. It was a partnership between Bronze Age clothing from Venice, Shut Skates from NYC, and Cow Skates from the Dayton/Cincinnati area of Ohio. I'm guessing it was for distribution purposes.

I think I figured out the plan for this thing's 4,000 post. It's at 3991 as of today. The initial idea was two weeks of Poweredge from the three issues I scanned from the Look Back Library, but I posted nearly all the really cool ads last summer. I pieced together a best of the rest from those mags for the week and then will go back to the middle 2010s for next week.

Congratulations to Sora Shirai on winning the Tampa Pro.

Poweredge - October 1989 Volume 2 Number 9

Ben Gore #6.

Hipster flash art.

Ben has been ripping for a while now and is a long time pro on Magenta. He showed up with a bunch of tricks in the new Miles Davis video from clothing line Butter Goods.

The high winds have been blowing all week long so it hasn't been a ton of fun going outside for skateboarding. There has been rain, too. I took a trip to Jamestown last Sunday. After getting some new socks at the mall, I swung by Jamestown Skateboard Products to see if they were open. They were and I got to roll for a bit on rainy day. Otherwise, I've just been skating the ledges in my driveway. It'd be nice if the weather improved enough to hit up the park again, but the forecast is looking cold and wet for the week ahead.

The photo is by Josh Stewart.

Transworld - November/December 2017 Issue 389

Brian Powderly.

Maryland Wildlife.

Brian is from Long Island and moved to Baltimore when he was younger. That's where he fully got into skateboarding. Once he was older, Brian headed out west to San Francisco. He is pro for Politic. His part in Static VI is full of quick footwork on spots off the beaten path. He reminds me a little of Bobby Puleo and Jake Rupp in trick selection.

Dial Tone is the wheel company that Josh does under the Theories of Atlantis umbrella. The team includes Alexis Sablone, Jordan Trahan, Zander Mitchell, Trevor Thompson, and Christian Maalouf.

RIP Josh Marlowe.

The photo is by Josh Stewart.

Transworld - September/October 2018 Issue 397

Steve Brandi.

Car wreck.

Steve is from Tampa, Florida. He's a regular in all the assorted Josh Stewart video projects. He's also a tennis instructor on account of his sister being a professional tennis player. Steve has ridden for Planet Earth, Hopps, and Converse. He has his own company called Dance Parti.

Mike Heikkila was the photographer.

Transworld - July/August 2017 Issue 387

John Baragwanath.

Sheepril Fools.

Theories of Atlantis has a bit of fun with a spoof of the classic Sheep Shoes logo and ad design.

The photo is by Josh Stewart.

Transworld - March/April 2019 Issue 397