Tod Swank.

Foundation Super Company.

This is Tod back in his pro days for Skull and Gullwing before he really got Foundation up and running as a company. I like how varied the photos are. I think he's spinning a McTwist and that's paired with a one footed slappy.

The photographs are by Ransack, also known as Daniel H. Sturt.

Poweredge - October 1989 Volume 2 Number 9

Mike Smith #3.

Gimme Liberty.

Liberty sometimes actually featured photos of skateboarding in their ads and not silly business like selling skateboards at schools, powerboats or disco dancing. Mike started the company up after leaving Madrid and partnered with Steve Rocco for better distribution. Liberty is one of those small companies that has developed a devoted following over the years.

Christian Kline was the photographer.

Poweredge - April 1989 Volume 2 Number 3

Eric Jueden.

The shifting of light and shadows.

Eric was one of the original riders on Planet Earth when Chris Miller started the company in 1990. He's a vert and pool ripper. Miller would have known Eric from Upland. They also both rode for G & S. I was stoked to find this one, as G & S had some cool ads back in the day.

The photos are by Chris Ortiz.

Poweredge - October 1989 Volume 2 Number 9

Bryce Kanights #4.

Studio Forty Three.

Bryce was pro for Schmitt Stix and Dogtown. He is a master lensman who has worked as the photo editor at Thrasher. Many years ago he used to run the much missed Skate Daily website.

Schmitt Stix had a couple of these ads where they did profiles on their riders. Companies with larger teams would often create different advertisements for Poweredge than what they would use for Thrasher and Transworld. It makes for some interesting discoveries of things you haven't seen before.

The photographs are by Luke Ogden.

Poweredge - March 1990 Volume 3 Number 3

Davis Torgerson.

Boondoggle.

Davis is from Wayzata, Minnesota. He was pro for Real before moving onto the industry side of skateboarding. His footwear sponsorship history included Etnies, DC, and New Balance. Davis currently works for Asics as a team manager. He lives in Los Angeles now, but still roots for the Vikings.

I figured I'd wrap up this brief look at Minnesota skateboarding with one of the newer guys, even though at this point newer was well over a decade ago. Davis did cite the crew on Iota as an influence on his skating. If you'd like some more current Land of a Thousand Lakes four wheel action, Dan Rusin is always making videos that are very much worth checking out.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Tuesday, June 25th.

I'm off on Monday off to take my mom to a doctor's appointment. She's been doing well since her operation in April.

I've been plugging away at scanning the three issues of Poweredge I borrowed from the Look Back Library. My plan was to scan everything before posting stuff. I'm still going to scan everything, but I decided to post some hammers for next week. Or rather what I think are hammers.

Thrasher - August 2012 Volume 32 Number 8

Steve Olson #6.

Guilty verdict.

The kinked rail boardslide was Steve's last trick in Guilty, the Shorty's video from 2001. His feet didn't move at all when he did the trick. It's kind of strange that his ender wound up in a clothing company from Minnesota's ad, but it is Steve Olson after all. The boardslide happened in Chicago on Supernatural's only tour. The nollie backside lipslide was also in Guilty.

Shout out to Mike from Mostly Skateboarding for providing some details for this week.

The photos are by Grant Brittain and Ryan Damian.

Nollie backside lipslide: Thrasher - November 2001 Volume 21 Number 11

Boardslide: Thrasher - February 2002 Volume 22 Number 2

Steve Nesser #9.

Somethin' to Dü.

I hadn't realized this until I scanned this ad, but Steve was never pro for Consolidated. He was elevated to professional status when he switched from the Cube to Iota. Birdhouse would be his next board sponsor after Iota ended.

The photos are by Andrew Hutchison with art by Todd Bratrud.

Thrasher - April 2002 Volume 22 Number 4