Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off

00:42:47,189 --> 00:42:49,275 without him quitting altogether. 767 00:42:49,358 --> 00:42:51,026 - Now, you're the father of Tony Hawk. 768 00:42:51,110 --> 00:42:52,403 How does it feel when you see your son 769 00:42:52,486 --> 00:42:53,696 go in there and compete? 770 00:42:53,779 --> 00:42:55,281 - Oh, I'm thrilled to death. 771 00:42:55,364 --> 00:42:57,950 I have to kind of force myself to keep subdued 772 00:42:58,033 --> 00:43:00,494 so I don't let people think I'm giving him an advantage 773 00:43:00,577 --> 00:43:01,745 in a contest or something. 774 00:43:01,829 --> 00:43:04,748 So when we get to a contest, we're strangers to each other. 775 00:43:04,832 --> 00:43:06,667 But I'm very proud of him. 776 00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:12,756 - I think I was 15 or 16. 777 00:43:12,840 --> 00:43:14,800 My mom moved to Arizona 778 00:43:14,883 --> 00:43:18,679 to pursue her doctorate in business education. 779 00:43:18,762 --> 00:43:20,723 And so she was gone. 780 00:43:22,057 --> 00:43:24,810 It definitely changed the dynamic in the household. 781 00:43:26,020 --> 00:43:28,856 One day, he came in and he just said, 782 00:43:28,939 --> 00:43:30,524 "Hey, Tony, I think I'm having chest pains. 783 00:43:30,607 --> 00:43:32,901 "I think--you know, I don't know, 784 00:43:32,985 --> 00:43:35,904 "but it feels like something's wrong. 785 00:43:35,988 --> 00:43:38,699 I think we need to call an ambulance." 786 00:43:38,782 --> 00:43:41,994 And I kind of freaked out, 'cause I thought, 787 00:43:42,077 --> 00:43:44,663 "I'm here alone with my dad." 788 00:43:44,747 --> 00:43:48,167 We never had any conversations 789 00:43:48,250 --> 00:43:50,919 that were deep or loving. 790 00:43:51,003 --> 00:43:52,880 And so I told him, I just--you know, 791 00:43:52,963 --> 00:43:54,631 "I want you to know that I'm thankful 792 00:43:54,715 --> 00:43:58,052 for everything you did for me, and I love you." 793 00:43:58,135 --> 00:44:02,389 And he said, "I know you do." 794 00:44:05,517 --> 00:44:08,062 The hardest part about that whole scenario 795 00:44:08,145 --> 00:44:10,397 was taking him to the hospital 796 00:44:10,481 --> 00:44:13,817 and then coming home. 797 00:44:13,901 --> 00:44:16,528 And I was truly alone. 798 00:44:18,072 --> 00:44:20,699 And I was-- and my mom was gone. 799 00:44:20,783 --> 00:44:24,078 And then I just didn't really know what to do. 800 00:44:26,955 --> 00:44:32,294 - What ultimately happened is-- was a bypass. 801 00:44:32,378 --> 00:44:36,006 My dad changed his habits a bit. 802 00:44:36,090 --> 00:44:37,257 You know, he was walking more. 803 00:44:37,341 --> 00:44:39,385 He was--changed his diet a little bit. 804 00:44:39,468 --> 00:44:42,054 But then he just gradually got back 805 00:44:42,137 --> 00:44:45,974 to the same kind of old Frank. 806 00:44:46,058 --> 00:44:47,476 - Did you all try to talk to him 807 00:44:47,559 --> 00:44:49,770 and get him to be healthier and... 808 00:44:49,853 --> 00:44:52,356 - No. I didn't. 809 00:44:52,439 --> 00:44:53,690 No. 810 00:44:56,985 --> 00:45:00,948 - Tony's training ground was the Del Mar skateboard park. 811 00:45:01,031 --> 00:45:02,449 The pool was a vertical pool, 812 00:45:02,533 --> 00:45:04,910 but the left wall wasn't quite so vertical. 813 00:45:04,993 --> 00:45:07,871 It was almost like a beautiful transition, 814 00:45:07,955 --> 00:45:10,207 so it was a perfect place to learn tricks. 815 00:45:10,290 --> 00:45:12,167 And that seemed to be the place 816 00:45:12,251 --> 00:45:15,129 Tony did all of his most difficult tricks. 817 00:45:15,212 --> 00:45:17,172 - That's where I skated my best. 818 00:45:17,256 --> 00:45:18,674 I had it dialed. I had it wired. 819 00:45:18,757 --> 00:45:20,259 And when I would go to other parks, 820 00:45:20,342 --> 00:45:21,510 I was out of place. 821 00:45:21,593 --> 00:45:22,803 I didn't have confidence. 822 00:45:22,886 --> 00:45:25,305 I didn't know how to use the transitions. 823 00:45:39,570 --> 00:45:43,991 - Most of his adversaries skated Upland, 824 00:45:44,074 --> 00:45:47,619 a really, really deep, big, giant pool. 825 00:45:47,703 --> 00:45:48,996 - Upland was considered 826 00:45:49,079 --> 00:45:50,581 the gnarliest pool at the time. 827 00:45:50,664 --> 00:45:52,583 Like, if you did well in an Upland contest, 828 00:45:52,666 --> 00:45:54,418 you got the respect of the skate industry 829 00:45:54,501 --> 00:45:56,170 and the hard-core skaters. 830 00:45:56,253 --> 00:45:58,130 - That's a really challenging pool, 831 00:45:58,213 --> 00:45:59,590 'cause it's a square pool 832 00:45:59,673 --> 00:46:02,050 and a round pool and a radical hip. 833 00:46:02,134 --> 00:46:04,386 It's a really, really tricky place. 834 00:46:08,307 --> 00:46:09,516 - It's just scary. 835 00:46:14,313 --> 00:46:16,648 If you're gonna ride Upland, you got to go for it. 836 00:46:16,732 --> 00:46:19,359 You can't just phone it in. You can't cruise it. 837 00:46:19,443 --> 00:46:21,361 You gotta put yourself at risk. 838 0